his own light
by saraahPM
Summary: Aomine had met many people with a fierce love for basketball, but no one quite like this boy who was confined to a wheelchair, but showed more optimism and determination than anyone else he knew. Aomine x OC.
1. the third gym

Contrary to what everyone thought, Aomine did in fact practice basketball, almost every day. Just not with his team, because there was no fun in practicing with people like them.

He often picked an abandoned gym where none of the second or third strings were practicing, like he did in his Teikou days, and just ran around, playing the sport he loved to his heart's content. Which is why it made him angry when the rest of his ex-teammates made it seem as if he had somehow begun to hate basketball. Aomine Daiki lived and breathed basketball; he could never hate it.

He made his way to the almost always abandoned third gym; a run-down old place that desperately needed repairs, but no one cared enough to make them, since the first two gyms were huge and state-of-the-art.

So it came as a surprise when Aomine saw that the light was already on in the gym, and there were noises coming from inside. Checking the time, he saw it was almost 7pm, way past any team practices.

He peered into the gym, a basketball under his arm, and saw a boy in a wheelchair throw a ball towards the basket. The ball missed, and the boy proceeded to chase it across the gym, leaning down to pick it up with considerable difficulty. Aomine watched the same scenario unfold about six more times before he walked into the gym. On closer inspection he noticed that the boy was wearing a Touou uniform, except instead of the customary slacks, he was wearing shorts of the same colour, as his legs ended just before his knees.

Trying not to stare at his legs and be rude, Aomine walked towards the boy. "Why are you trying so hard?" he asked, picking up the basketball and putting it on his lap.

"Oh, Aomine-san?" the boy said, looking at him quizzically, as if to ask what he was doing there. "I'm sorry, am I getting in the way of your practice?" His voice was oddly melodious. _Like liquid chocolate, _Aomine decided, shaking his head after the thought.

"Nah, I just come here for a bit of fun. Practice is boring. What are you doing?"

The boy smiled brightly. "Playing basketball. Or rather trying to. I never thought that it would be this hard to shoot from down here. I can't seem to do it at all. It's my first time trying to play from a wheelchair."

"Oh, so you used to play…before…?"

The boy looked at Aomine, his smile faltering only slightly. _He doesn't remember me… _"Yeah. You could say that. You could probably shoot from a wheelchair, right, Aomine-san? Why don't you teach me?" His smile was brighter than ever; Aomine thought that he might have imagined the falter before.

"You can't even get one basket in. I'm not gonna teach someone who sucks so bad," he said, tossing his ball towards the basket with one hand, obviously making the shot perfectly.

"Fine, if I can get one shot in in the next 20 minutes, will you teach me?" he asked, suddenly determined.

Aomine was surprised. The boy looked really…fragile, and it wasn't just because he was confined to a wheelchair. He had a thin build, thinner than even Tetsu, and his jawline was sharp and defined, with high cheekbones to match. His eyes were a light sort of grey, but the oddest thing about his appearance was definitely his hair. It was a dark black and long, longer than even Murasakibara's, tied back into a ponytail, and long bangs covered his forehead, framing his face. _Like some Edo era samurai from a manga, _Aomine thought.

"Whatever. Like you could do that after failing so many times."

And Aomine was right. The boy missed every shot he took after that, though nothing could put a damper on his determination, and he chased the ball around all over the gym.

"It's been almost half an hour, dude. I'm leaving," Aomine said, yawning.

Just as Aomine put one foot out of the door, he heard the familiar swish of a ball going through the basket.

The boy looked towards Aomine, a radiant smile on his face.

Aomine grunted. "What's your name?"

"Sato Ren," the boy replied, brushing the hair out of his face with a grin.

"Well, Sato Ren. I don't take kindly to slackers. So you had better be here 5pm sharp, tomorrow and every day after that. Seeya." Aomine slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the gym doors.

"Thank you Aomine-san!" Ren called out, all grins. _I'll make you remember me this time. Don't forget it!_


	2. thank you

Aomine showed up to the dilapidated third gym just five minutes after 5pm, pushing a computer chair in front of him.

"Good, you're here on time, Sato," said Aomine, walking into the gym. "Now, I couldn't find a wheelchair for myself, but I think this'll work just fine." He pushed the chair so it was next to Ren's wheelchair, and sat down on it. Taking the ball from Ren, he threw it towards the basket, and it went in flawlessly, without a hitch.

Ren stared at Aomine, eyes wide. "Wow, you really are amazing! You play wheelchair basketball better than me, and I'm the one in a wheelchair!" he said, laughing good-naturedly.

"Hey, I don't get something. How can you joke about it like that? Doesn't it depress you? I mean, you used to play basketball before, right? How…can you stand it? I don't know what I would do if that happened to me," Aomine said suddenly, turning his chair to face Ren.

"Hmm…well, it is depressing, I suppose," Ren said after a while. "I was a second string player on my team in middle school, so I never got to play in an official match. I figured I'd work hard and becoming a starting member in high school, but then this happened in my last year of middle school. After I regained consciousness…well…never mind that, now. There's no point in being depressed about something you can't control, you know? You might as well make the best of the situation."

Ren shifted his gaze towards the basket, and attempted a shot, but the ball bounced off the rim. "Even if I can never stand on the court again, practice with a team again, play in an official match for the first time…basketball is still fun. That doesn't change."

And it was at that moment where Aomine decided he would train Ren until 100% of his shots made it through the basket.

* * *

Days turned into weeks, turned into almost two months. Aomine and Ren met on nearly every day of those two months and practiced for hours upon hours, until unknowingly almost, a strong friendship developed between them.

"Yo, Ren!" Aomine greeted, stepping into the gym.

Ren turned around, wheeling himself towards Aomine, a huge grin on his face. "Daiki!"

Aomine clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Listen, I can only stay a couple of hours today. Satsuki's making me go shopping with her," he said, pulling a face.

"Shopping…like a date?" Ren asked, cocking his head to the side.

"With Satsuki? Never," Aomine said, laughing "Hey, would you like to come? It'll make it a lot less boring."

Ren's face lit up. "I'd love that!"

Aomine grinned back. "Actually, let's skip practice today. We can grab some food and hang out before meeting up with Satsuki." He walked behind Ren, grabbing the handles of his wheelchair.

"I can wheel myself, Daiki. You don't have to do that," Ren protested.

He shrugged. "I want to. This way we can talk easier while we walk, and you can give your poor arms a rest. I mean, the rest of you is so skinny but you've got killer biceps from wheeling yourself around all the time," Aomine pointed out, laughing.

"Well, if you want to then. I won't stop you," Ren said, smiling to himself. He was glad Aomine was standing behind him, so he couldn't see the light blush appearing on his pale cheeks.

"Why _are_ you so skinny though?" Aomine asked, once the two were on the street. "I mean, don't people get fat when they just sit around?"

Ren laughed. "It's hard to work up an appetite when you're not moving around you know. So I just eat the bare minimum. Although I have been eating more ever since we started practicing together."

"You're a growing boy! You need to eat well," Aomine chided. "Doesn't your mother make you eat a lot?"

"I live alone," he said simply.

Aomine stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. "You're shitting me. What the fuck? Where are your parents?"

"I…another time, Daiki. Not right now."

Aomine sighed softly, wheeling Ren over to the side so they wouldn't obstruct anyone's path. He crouched down in front of the wheelchair, facing his friend. "Hey, we're friends right? So just tell me now, and get it off of your chest, okay?"

Ren looked at Aomine for a few moments before sighing. "Alright. Before my accident, my parents had secured jobs with National Geographic, and as a whole family we were going to be moving around and seeing the world, you know? And after, well…I mean, they had just landed their dream jobs. They couldn't just drag me around, right? It would just bother everyone. So when my parents asked me if I'd be okay alone, I told them I would. And so my parents left, taking my siblings with them, of course." His voice was monotone by the time he finished the story, devoid of any emotion.

Aomine stood up silently and took the handles of Ren's wheelchair again. "You're having dinner at my house every day from now on, okay? My parents are away on business trips sometimes, but I can cook, too. And you can sleep over whenever you want. Actually, I'd like it if you slept over."

"Daiki…"

"I'm not taking pity on you, if that's what you think. I've wanted to ask you to come over a bunch of times, but I didn't 'cause I thought your parents would be super strict about you going over to peoples' houses and stuff. But now that you live alone, that isn't a problem. So after practice tomorrow, we're going to my house for dinner," Aomine said with an air of finality.

Ren laughed softly, glad again that Aomine was behind him, because his cheeks were really, really red now. "Thanks, Daiki. I'd love that."

Aomine was flustered for a moment, hearing the word _love_ and his first name uttered together by the younger boy. "G-Good," he stammered, his cheeks turning just a shade pinker, glad Ren's back was to him.

* * *

_**Eep, I'm having way too much fun writing an Aomine-centric fic. So much fun that I'm probably going to be updating daily, or maybe two chapters a day, idk. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I would greatly appreciate any reviews, criticisms, etc. Thanks a bunch! - sarah**_


	3. sweatbands

The two stopped at the Maji Burger in the mall's food court, where they waited for Momoi. Aomine ordered six burgers, whereas Ren asked for one, but ended up eating two because Aomine practically shoved another one down his throat.

"Sorry I'm late, Dai-chan!" Momoi called out, hugging his shoulders as she arrived at their table.

"Gross, get off of me," Aomine grumbled, pushing her off.

Momoi's eyes travelled towards Ren. "Oh, is this…" She trailed off, looking from Aomine to Ren with a wicked grin.

"No, Satsuki, don't you dare—" Aomine began, but was cut off by Momoi's squeal.

"You must be Ren-chan, Dai-chan's new best friend!" she exclaimed. "He keeps putting me off for you, these days, you know? I had to force him on pain of death to come shopping with me today, but I'm glad he brought you. I've wanted to meet you for a while now, but Dai-chan is just _so_ possessive…"

"Shut up, Satsuki!" Aomine grunted, turning slightly red. "Don't listen to her, Ren. She's stupid."

Ren met Momoi's eyes, grinning. "Does that mean we're not friends, Daiki?" Ren said, pouting at his friend. "I'm hurt. Very hurt."

"You're so mean, Dai-chan," Momoi agreed, nodding.

"Oh great. Just great. Now my only two friends have met and teamed up against me," Aomine complained, throwing his hands up in the air.

Ren laughed. "It's very nice to meet you, Momoi-san."

"Likewise!" she said, beaming at him as she took Aomine's arm. "Now, guys, I need to find a beautiful dress for the wedding I'm going to tomorrow night. And assorted accessories. So we're not leaving here until I have the _perfect_ outfit." She began steering Aomine towards the escalator.

"Ah…I'll look around on the ground floor then, and you two can take the upper floor?" Ren suggested. "That way we can get more ground covered."

"You're smart, Ren-chan! Just call either one of us if you find something nice. Now let's go, Dai-chaaan!"

Aomine looked back at Ren, a worried look on his face, but the younger boy just smiled and mouthed, _I'll be fine!_

Truth be told, Ren wanted to be alone for a bit so he could buy a present for Aomine, to say thank you for all of the time he had spent training him. He entered a sports store to look for sweatbands for Aomine's arms, as he noticed that the one's his friend owned were quite worn and tattered. He ended up picking two matching ones, in the red and black colours of Touou.

After he had purchased the sweatbands, his phone rang. "Ren-chan!" came Momoi's voice. "We found a nice, blue dress. If you come across some silver or diamonds, let us know!"

Ren told her he would, and went into the first jewelry store he found.

"Excuse me, do you have any necklaces or earrings that would look good with a light blue dress?" Ren asked the storeowner timidly, and he was promptly shown a wide variety of jewelry sets.

He dialed Aomine's number. "Hey, Daiki. Can you and Momoi-san come to the ground floor? I found a really nice store."

"Yeah, sure. We'll be there in a flash."

And sure enough they were. While Momoi cooed over the pretty necklaces, Aomine stuffed something into Ren's hands.

"Hm?" Ren looked at the little paper bag in his hands, and then up at Aomine. "What's this?"

"Every real basketball player needs these," Aomine said, as Ren opened the package, to see two white sweatbands. He started to laugh.

"What?" Aomine said, suddenly defensive. _Why is it funny?_

"You know, Daiki, we think way too alike," Ren said, trying to stop laughing. He handed Aomine a small bag. "I just got these for you."

Aomine pulled a pair of sweatbands from the bag, his face breaking out into a grin. "Here, I have an idea," he said, swapping one of Ren's white sweatbands for his black and red ones. "There, now we have one of each."

Ren looked up at Aomine, a bright smile on his face. "I love it."

"You two lovebirds come help me pick a necklace," Momoi whined, holding up three or four different necklaces in her hands.

Aomine's cheeks turned pink. "Shut up, Satsuki!" he said loudly, storming off to go help her without looking at Ren.

Ren willed himself not to blush, as he wheeled himself over to where Momoi was.

"They're all fine, Satsuki. Just pick one so we can go home," Aomine said, rolling his eyes.

"I like that one, Momoi-san," Ren said, pointing to a delicate silver necklace.

Momoi smiled. "Ren-chan is a better friend than you, Dai-chan," Momoi said, sticking her tongue out at Aomine. "I'll just go buy this, you guys can wait outside."

Aomine wheeled Ren outside of the store. "Thanks for making her shut up," he said, grinning.

Ren grinned back. "I had a lot of fun though. All of us should go see a movie or something. Or just come here for shopping again. Or just go for lunch," Ren said, thinking of other things he could possibly do with Aomine and Momoi.

Aomine placed his hands on Ren's shoulders. "Or just the two of us could go. Satsuki's boring anyways," he said casually. His heart was betraying his tone of voice though, thumping loudly.

"Yeah? We should," Ren said. "Let's go this weekend! Oh but…movie theatres aren't really wheelchair friendly. I'd just kind of block everyone's way. We can do something else then." He turned his head, smiling at Aomine.

"Hm? Yeah. Sure." Aomine's mind was already thinking about how he could take Ren to the movies somehow this weekend. _Take him? I mean…go with him. As friends. Yeah._

* * *

"Hey Daiki, do you have a girlfriend?" Ren asked suddenly, as the two were walking towards Ren's house. Momoi had already gone off to do something else.

"No. Why?"

"Just wondering. I mean, you must be pretty popular, being on the basketball team and stuff."

"Not really. I'm actually one of the least popular. I think it's because girls find me scary. Well, I am scary. I mean, they prattle on about useless things that I couldn't care less about, and so I snap at them, and then they run away crying. So no one's asked me out since the first week of school. What about you, you have a girlfriend?"

"I think I would be last when it comes to date-able guys," Ren said honestly. "I mean, I can't really do much, after all."

"That's why girls are stupid. They'd overlook a perfect guy like you, and pick a douchebag like me instead."

"You're not a douchebag, Daiki." He used his hands to stop Aomine from moving the wheelchair, and then turned it around to face him. "You're the only person in all of Touou who doesn't see me as some helpless cripple, you know that? You're the only one that doesn't look at me with pity. You're the only person who befriended me unconditionally, not caring that I can't do most things you can do. I mean, it's like you can't even see that I'm handicapped. You look at my face when you talk to me, not my legs. And you just called me _perfect, _when arguably I'm the furthest thing from that. I don't know, I'm babbling, aren't I? I just feel normal when I'm hanging out with you. Like I'm just a regular kid, you know?"

Aomine hit Ren's head. "Stupid. You _are_ a regular kid. Just because you don't have legs, you think you're somehow different? No wait, you are different. You're a better person that anyone else I've met, and that's why I befriended you. And you are perfect. If you had a girlfriend…she'd probably be the luckiest girl in the world. So stop with your little pity party already," Aomine said gruffly, walking behind Ren to push his wheelchair before the younger boy could see that he was blushing.

"I'll disagree on just one thing, Daiki. The luckiest girl in the world would be your girlfriend," Ren said softly.

"Stop saying embarrassing things, stupid." Aomine's cheeks were completely red by now. "And don't fall asleep on me! I'm not going to carry you into your house, okay?"

* * *

_**The cheese! It's killing me slowly! No but seriously, sorry about the cheesiness. I just can't help it, it comes so naturally with Aomine and Ren, hahaha. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! - sarah**_


	4. one-sided

"Good practice, today," Aomine said, bumping fists with Ren. "Your accuracy is getting a lot better."

"All thanks to you!" Ren replied, all grins.

"Oh right, we're going to my house for dinner tonight, remember?"

"Daiki, I'm gross and sweaty right now. It'll be embarrassing," Ren said, pouting. "Another day, please?" It was in fact, meeting Aomine's parents that had Ren incredibly nervous and scared. He was pretty sure no parent wanted their star athlete of a son hanging out with a cripple.

"No buts, Ren. My mom's been preparing since yesterday," Aomine said. He checked his watch. "Okay, we have time. Let's go back to your house first, you can shower and change, and then we'll go on to my house."

"Fine," Ren said reluctantly, sighing.

* * *

Once they got closer to Ren's house, Aomine realized that he had never been in Ren's house before. He knew that there were no steps in front of the door so that Ren could easily get in and out of the house, and the entrance was a large set of double doors.

Stepping inside, he noticed that the house was pretty big. He chuckled softly at how messy everything was, typical of a teenage boy.

"Don't laugh," Ren said, turning red. "If I knew you were going to be coming over, I would've cleaned up."

"Nah, nah, I like it. It's very home like," Aomine said truthfully.

"You can do whatever you'd like until I'm done," Ren said, wheeling out of his first floor room with a change of clothes, and then into the bathroom. "See you in a bit."

Aomine obliged, and began to explore. He looked around the kitchen and found a granola bar, which he began munching on as he looked around. There was nothing of much interest on the top floor of the house; there were two mostly empty rooms and a bathroom, everything covered in a fine layer of dust. "Of course, he can't even come up here," Aomine mused, his heart sinking at just imagining how lonely the boy probably was at home.

He had saved Ren's room for last. Walking in, it looked just like a normal teenage boy's room. There were clothes strewn everywhere, a desk covered in papers and textbooks, and a fairly large bed. His closet door was open, and he had left his underwear drawer open as well.

Aomine closed the door to Ren's room to see what was behind it, and mere surprise could not describe what he felt when he saw a Teiko basketball jersey pinned to the back of his door.

He racked his brain and remembered when Ren had told him that he had been on the second string of his middle school's basketball team before his accident. It was mostly first string members that had jerseys at Teiko, but there had been a few second string members that had gotten jerseys. And the number on it, 24, was a second string number, for sure.

He tried hard to think back to his middle school days, if he knew anyone from the second string. "Of course he knows I went to Teiko. Everyone knows I want to Teiko. Fuck. What if I did know him, and don't remember him? God…he was probably expecting me to remember him!" Aomine muttered in frustration.

Then he spotted a face down picture frame on Ren's desk. Gingerly picking it up, he saw a photo of three boys, all second string members, wearing Teiko basketball jerseys. The one in the centre was without a doubt Ren. He could recognize those grey eyes and that smile anywhere. His hair was a lot shorter; still longer than either of the boys at his sides, but nothing compared to how long his hair was now.

He blinked. _I know that hair… _Back in his second year of middle school, before he became one of the Generation of Miracles, he had left his bag in the gym after practice. When he went back to retrieve it, he saw a guy shooting baskets.

"Don't be so stiff, dude," Aomine had said, walking up to him and taking the ball. "Like this." Aomine relaxed his body, and shot the ball, getting it in easily.

The boy had tried to copy what Aomine did, and got the ball in. "Wow, thanks, Aomine-san!" he had said, grinning widely.

"Any time. Keep up the good work." Aomine had ruffled the boy's hair on his way out. "Wow, your hair is _soft. _Like a chick's. It's awesome." Aomine had laughed before he exited the gym.

Present-day Aomine shook his head. "I'm an ass. I'm a total ass," he muttered, putting everything back to the way it was and quickly leaving Ren's room, just as he heard the shower turn off.

"I hope you weren't too bored, Daiki," said Ren, wheeling out of the bathroom. He had changed into a fresh pair of shorts and a white t-shirt, which clung to his still slightly damp body, and he had a towel draped around his shoulders to absorb the water from his hair.

Aomine looked at Ren for a little longer than he should have, simply because he had never seen Ren with his hair out before, and had never quite noticed just how _good-looking_ the boy actually was.

"Yeah, no. I was fine. I found a granola bar," he said, showing him the half eaten object.

Ren laughed, moving towards where Aomine was sitting. "Sorry, but can we wait just a little bit longer? I need my hair to dry first."

"Sure," Aomine replied, reaching out to touch his wet hair. _Soft… _"Why do you keep your hair so long, anyways? Doesn't it get hard to manage?"

"Umm…well… It's kind of embarrassing, but there was a person I really admired. The first time they talked to me, they complimented me on my hair. It was pretty short back then. Okay, I didn't just admire that person. I was kind of in love with them. I still love that person, I suppose."

Aomine's throat had gone dry. _No…he can't be talking about me…We're friends…right? _"How long ago did this person compliment you?"

"Um…my second year of middle school. Near the end of it."

It was a miracle how Aomine had managed to remain completely casual. "Wow…you must really like this person, then, huh? Even after all this time."

And it got even harder for him when he saw Ren's eyes light up as they did. "I don't think I could ever stop liking this person. To me…they're perfect. Everything about them. Even though I know that my love is completely one-sided…to me, even that's more than enough. As long as I can be a part of their life."

"Again, with your little pity party. How are you so sure your love is one-sided? Did you even bother confessing?"

Ren just laughed. "Maybe I'll confess one day."

Aomine was surprised at what came out of his mouth next. "Why not today? Anyone would be lucky to go out with someone like you. So you should just confess and get it over with." _He obviously means me. Does this…oh god. I'm in love with him aren't I? Well fuck. Just perfect._

"I _can't_, Daiki, alright? I wasn't born with your mountains of self-confidence, and getting my legs chopped off didn't help that much. My hair's almost dry. Let's just go now." He shrugged on a sweater and made his way to the door.

"Sorry," he muttered, taking the handles of his wheelchair.

"So do you have someone you like?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, kind of. I guess," Aomine said, turning pink. "Actually yeah. I do have someone I like."

"Cool," Ren replied, a dull ache settling in his chest. "What's she like?"

"I told you before, right? All the girls I've ever met have pissed me off," Aomine said, clicking his tongue. "Would it kill you to remember things I tell you?"

* * *

_**Oh no, the AoRen is starting to appear a lot faster than I had intended it to...but I just can't help it! I just want to write them being an adorable little couple already T_T. Touou and Seirin's first game is coming soon, by the way! - sarah**_


	5. dinner

Aomine changed the topic after that, but his words kept ringing in Ren's mind.

"Alright, we're here!" Aomine announced, once the two arrived at his house. Ren looked at the door, and then the staircase in front of the door.

"Um, Daiki. This might be a problem."

"Not at all," he said, running up the stairs to knock on the door. "Dad, come help me for a second, will you?"

A few moments later, an older man appeared at the door, and Ren could see which parent Aomine had taken after even without having seen his mother. Aomine's father had the same tanned skin and striking cheekbones as his son, as well as the straight, thin nose. His hair, however, was black, and his eyes a kind brown.

"Try not to fall, Ren," Aomine said, as he picked up one side of Ren's wheelchair, and his father the other, the two carrying him up the stairs and into the house with ease, while Ren profusely apologized for being such a bother.

"Don't be silly," Aomine's father said, a twinkle in his eyes. "It's the least we could do for such a close friend of Daiki's."

"He never shuts up, about you, you know?" came a female voice, and Ren saw Aomine's mother poking her head out of the kitchen. She had the same midnight blue hair and eyes as her son. "It's always Ren this and Ren that from the moment he steps into the house!"

Aomine was turning a dark shade of red. "Mom, shut up! This is why I didn't want to invite him over okay?" He stalked into the kitchen to yell at his mother.

"She's right," Aomine's father said to Ren, still smiling. "I was worried about my son after he left Teiko. He left his teammates behind and became a lot…a lot more sullen. And his only friend was Satsuki. So I'm glad he found a friend in you, Ren."

Ren flushed. "I…I'm not really sure what to say. I always thought Daiki was really popular. I was glad _I _found a friend in _him_," he said, laughing.

"Well, it's a good thing the two of you found each other then, isn't it? Come on, dinner's almost ready."

* * *

"All of this food is so amazing. Thank you so much," Ren said, once he had finished eating.

"Daiki told me about how you live alone, Ren-kun. So you're always welcome here when you want to eat homemade food, instead of that junk you teenagers are always eating," Aomine's mother said, frowning almost comically.

Ren laughed. "You'll be seeing a lot of me, then!"

"If you don't mind me asking, son, how did your accident happen?" Aomine's father asked, politely.

"Dad," Aomine muttered, looking at his father as if warning him.

"It's alright, Daiki. I don't mind talking about it. No one ever asks, so they just assume it's too painful for me to talk about," he said, smiling. "Um, I was walking home one day from school. I was crossing the street properly; it was my right of way, when a car that was making an illegal left turn hit me. The car had mostly braked before it hit me, so I just fell down, not really injured. I was about to stand up when two other cars slammed into the car that had knocked me down, causing it to roll onto my legs. This car had sustained quite a bit of damage, and it was kind of crunched up, so I couldn't just pull out my legs from underneath the wreck. Once the ambulance and the police cars showed up, the noticed that the car was leaking gas and even the smallest spark would set everything on fire, including me. I mean, I guess they knew that trying to lift the car off of my legs would be unnecessary; my legs were lost. Even I knew that. They administered local anesthesia…but they were pressed for time, so they had to cut off my legs before it took effect. I passed out because of the pain, and the next thing I knew, I was in the hospital."

Aomine's mother was watching Ren, tears in her eyes, and Aomine was biting his lip, as if he was restraining himself.

"I'm sorry…I ruined the mood, didn't I?" Ren said, laughing softly. "But, really. It wasn't that bad!"

Aomine's mother got up and walked over to Ren, to hug him. "Just know that you'll always have a place in our home, Ren-kun," she said, sniffling, before she went over to the kitchen to clean up.

"You're so overdramatic, mom," Aomine muttered, running to help his mother clear up.

Ren and Aomine's father went back to the sitting room.

"Will you be going to Daiki's game tomorrow, Ren-kun?"

"Oh well…I didn't know about the game until now…so I'm not sure. Probably, I guess. Daiki didn't mention it," Ren said, laughing softly.

Aomine poked his head into the sitting room. "Ren, mom's insisting that you spend the night, so you're sleeping over, okay?"

"Don't lie, Daiki! I didn't say _anything_ about him sleeping over," Aomine's mother called out in a sing-song voice.

Aomine flushed. "Well, you're still staying over. You can borrow my stuff and shit. Come, I'll take you to my room."

Ren wheeled out of the sitting room, to see a flight of stairs. "I don't think it's safe to carry my wheelchair all the way up there…" he said, looking up at his friend.

"We're not taking your wheelchair up there," he said. He hesitated for a moment, the blush on his cheeks turning a darker red before he picked Ren up, bridal style, and began carrying him up the stairs.

Ren blushed a deep crimson. "D-Daiki…"

"Well, I had to get you up the stairs somehow!" he said defensively, not looking at Ren. Holding the younger boy this close, he realized just how light and frail his friend actually was. _He's so skinny…_

Aomine put Ren down on his bed. "Do you need to borrow clothes?"

"I'm only wearing a t-shirt and shorts, so I should be fine. Thanks though!" Ren looked around Aomine's room. It was just as he imagined; basketball related things were everywhere. Posters, basketballs, trophies, medals, the like. Alongside his basketball posters, there were posters of Horikita Mai and other idols. Otherwise, it was fairly clean; not nearly as messy as his own room had been.

Aomine sat down on the bed, next to Ren. "Hey, uh… I'm playing a game tomorrow. Against Seirin. Part of the Inter High and stuff. Um… If you're not doing anything tomorrow morning…" He fumbled to get the right words.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Ren said, a huge smile on his face.

Aomine grinned. "It means a lot to me, you know. I'll take you there in the morning then? Before the game."

"You should spend the time before the game with your teammates," Ren chided. "I can get there myself."

"But we're going to be going the same way anyways…" Aomine pouted.

"Oh right. Alright then, we'll go there together. Ah…I'm so jealous of you," Ren said, staring at the ceiling. "I really want to stand on a basketball court again."

Aomine bit his lip. "Ren…don't take this the wrong way, but I'm really glad you had your accident. You would've gone abroad after middle school right? So we never would have met. I know it's selfish but…still."

"No, I understand. These days…I think that a lot. If I could go back in time, I would keep everything the way it was. Having Daiki in my life is better than having my legs."

Suddenly, Aomine wrapped his arms around Ren, in a tight hug.

"Daiki…"

"I'm sorry. I just…I can't hold it in anymore. I can't even imagine what it feels like to be you. And you're so…strong. I don't know how you do it." Aomine tightened his hold on Ren, who was hugging him back now.

Ren just stayed silent, wishing he could stop time at this moment. His lips hovered close to Aomine's cheek, and he trembled slightly before stopping himself. _If you win the game tomorrow…I'll tell you everything._

* * *

_**Fdsflskjfsj I'm dying slowly. AoRen is just too cute for my poor heart. - sarah**_


	6. first love

Aomine woke up early the next morning, before the sun had even risen. Given his grogginess, it took him a good few moments to realize what was going on.

Remembering back to the previous night, he had insisted that Ren sleep on his bed, but Ren had insisted that the bed was big enough for the both of them. So they had both slept on the bed. On opposite ends of the bed. Far away from each other.

So why was it that he was holding Ren close to him, his arms around his friend's waist rather possessively? And why was his friend's face buried in his neck, his hands casually placed on Aomine's chest?

Aomine gulped, blushing. It felt so natural, as if Ren's body was a perfect fit to his own. Aomine froze when he felt Ren stir next to him, moving his head. His lips were slightly parted, pink and full in the early morning. Aomine leaned forward, almost hypnotised. _I need to kiss him…_

But no. He couldn't. Easing himself away from Ren as not to wake him, Aomine crept towards the bathroom, his heart rate quite elevated.

Coming out of the bathroom, he saw Ren sitting up on the bed, rubbing his eyes. His long hair was not tied, and it cascaded perfectly down to his shoulders, not even remotely looking like a bedhead.

"Oh, Daiki," he mumbled, looking up at his friend. "I need your help. Could you take me downstairs so I can go to the bathroom?"

"Y-Yeah. Sure." Aomine scooped Ren up in his arms, easily. "You sleep well?"

"Yeah. Better than I have in years," he said, smiling.

Aomine flushed again. "Get ready quickly. We have to leave soon."

* * *

The two left the house quickly, Ren having borrowed one of Aomine's sweatshirts as it was a chilly morning. Aomine had to suppress a laugh every time he looked at Ren; the poor boy was practically swimming in Aomine's massive hoodie.

Aomine made sure that Ren was settled in a good place near the front of the viewing area, before running to meet up with his team.

"Sorry, I'm late," Aomine said, walking into his team's locker room.

"The fuck, Aomine? You're early, actually. Is the world ending?" Wakamatsu asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He's right, Aomine-kun. You're never this early," agreed Imayoshi. "None of the other team members are even here yet."

"Oh, well. There's a first time for everything, I guess," Aomine said, looking uncomfortable.

Imayoshi suddenly grinned. "Hey. This has something to do with cute kid in the wheelchair, right? The one you're _always _with these days."

"Jeez, can't a guy show up early these days without his intentions being questioned?" Aomine said defensively.

"Finally, someone to beat sense into Aomine. I wonder if this magical guy can even start making you come to practices," Wakamatsu said.

"So now I can't even have friends? Great. I really do hate you guys," Aomine grumbled, slamming the door on his way out.

* * *

Ren was nervous for the game. He had seen the Seirin team and recognized Kuroko Tetsuya, Aomine's shadow from the Teiko middle school team. But his belief in Aomine held steadfast. _He will win._

The game started, and it was as if Ren fell in love with Aomine all over again. He blushed, recalling the first time he had seen Aomine play against other members of the first string at Teiko. _That's when I decided I liked him. _

There were ten people on the court, but Ren's eyes were only on Aomine, the entire time. He watched as his friend played; it was a completely different side to Aomine, that Ren never saw when he was alone with the boy. He had a wild grin, an excited gleam in his eyes, as he moved about the court, unpredictable and unstoppable.

"Aomine-kun, you're smiling," Kuroko murmured to Aomine, as the two passed each other on the court. "You're enjoying yourself, aren't you?"

"I enjoy everything these days, Tetsu," Aomine replied, glancing towards the stands and meeting Ren's eyes for a brief moment. "You could say…that I've found my own light."

Kuroko smiled, following Aomine's eyes.

"Do you love him, Aomine-kun?"

"What? Y-Yeah. I guess. If you have time to chitchat with me, focus harder on playing!" Aomine snapped, blushing.

Kuroko just kept smiling. "I'm glad Aomine-kun is happy again."

* * *

The game ended in Touou's victory, and Ren quietly left the stadium before Aomine noticed. _I can't tell him just yet…I'll do it tonight._

His phone began to ring. "Hello?"

"Yo, Ren! Where are you? We won the game!"

"I saw, Daiki! You were amazing. Listen, something popped up, and I need to uh, get there. But meet me around seven at the gym, okay?"

"Okay, sure. See you then!"

Hearing Aomine's voice on the phone made Ren want to turn back immediately, but he needed some time to mentally prepare himself for rejection. _He likes a boy, though… It can't be me. Probably a teammate. Or someone from Teiko. Kuroko? Kise? No, definitely Kuroko._

Ren shook his head. "I made a promise. A silent promise, but it was still a promise. So I have to go through with this no matter what. Okay."

* * *

Jittery with nerves, Ren arrived at the gym nearly two hours earlier than the time he had told Aomine. But as he wheeled himself inside, he was surprised to see Aomine there, shooting baskets. His friend shot him a guilty smile.

"Sorry, I really had nothing else to do," Aomine said, walking up to Ren.

"Yeah, me neither," Ren replied, laughing.

"So, did you like the game? You left so quickly, I couldn't even talk to you."

"Come closer. No, like in front of me. Yeah." Aomine was kneeling in front of Ren's wheelchair now.

"The game was amazing," Ren said softly. "You were amazing. You're so…_perfect_. Every single part of you." He took Aomine's face in his hands. "I love you, Daiki." He touched his lips to Aomine's for the briefest of moments.

"I…Ren…"

"You don't have to say it. I'm sorry…" He let his hands fall from Aomine's face.

"Stupid," Aomine said, hitting Ren's head. "I was the one who told you to confess, remember? And I was the one who said that anyone would be lucky to have you as a boyfriend. Like, would it really, _really _kill you to remember things I say?"

"I don't…" Ren looked at Aomine, eyes wide and confused. "What?"

"I love you, Ren. I meant everything I said before. You're perfect. And you've just made me the luckiest guy in the universe."

"That's my line," Ren said, laughing. "I can't believe it. Oh my god, I can't believe it."

"Why are you always so hard on yourself, stupid? There's nothing unbelievable about me loving you."

"No, Daiki. You don't understand. I've been in love with you since the first time I saw you play, in Teiko. I was in Teiko. Second string. Sorry I didn't tell you before…but you talked to me once, and said you liked my hair. So I grew it, because I wanted you to like me. And here we are, and you like me, although I couldn't possibly fathom _why_," Ren said, knowing he was babbling, but he couldn't stop.

"Wrong again, idiot. I don't _like_ you. I _love _you," Aomine said, leaning forward to kiss Ren. It wasn't a long kiss, just barely longer than when Ren had confessed. "And I still love your hair. I'm glad you grew it out. I'm glad you didn't give up on me. I'm glad you came to Touou. I'm glad I met you again, and didn't let you go. I'm so glad you're in my life."

"Daiki, stop. I'm gonna cry," Ren mumbled, roughly brushing away the few escaped tears.

"You cry, and I'll punch you," Aomine threatened. "Now, let's get you home."

"Sleep over?"

"Woah, woah. Taking things a little fast, aren't we?" Aomine said, grinning.

"Shut up! You know that's not what I meant!" Ren exclaimed, a deep shade of crimson.

He chuckled, kissing Ren's cheek. "I know. I was gonna sleep over even if you didn't ask." Aomine turned off the lights in the gym as he pushed Ren's wheelchair out of the door.

"Tell me something, Ren. Did you like anyone before me?"

Ren thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Daiki was my first love."

"Yeah. You're my first love, too."

* * *

_**Excuse me while I die of excess cute and feels. - sarah**_


	7. nicknames

"Hey, stop here. We still haven't celebrated for your win," Ren said, as they were passing an okonomiyaki place. "It's my treat, today!"

"Well, I won't say no to free food," Aomine said, grinning. The grin was almost immediately wiped off his face when he saw Midorima sitting inside, with that grinning partner of his.

"Aomine," Midorima greeted stiffly.

"Shin-chan's friends? Come sit with us!" Takao said, enthusiastically patting the empty seats next to him and Midorima.

Reluctantly, Aomine parked Ren's wheelchair next to Midorima, and he sat across from his boyfriend, next to Takao.

"Congratulations," Midorima said, looking at Aomine. "You played well."

"I _always_well, Midorima," Aomine replied calmly.

"Shin-chan's just being shy again, Aomine-kun," Takao said, grinning. "He watched your entire game on the edge of his seat and cheered as well."

"Shut up, Takao," Midorima grunted, his teeth clenched tightly. Ren tried to suppress a laugh, causing Midorima's attention to turn to him. "Who's your friend, Aomine?"

"Oh. Ah…this is Sato Ren," he said, blushing slightly. He scratched his head. "My, um, boyfriend."

Takao's eyes went wide, and a grin appeared on his face.

"_No_, Takao. Keep your stupid mouth shut!" Midorima said, voice low and dangerous.

"We can double date then!" Takao blurted out, shooting an apologetic look at Midorima. "Shin-chan and I are dating too, you know. Although he's so _shy_, he won't let me tell anyone!"

Ren and Aomine looked at each other, and started laughing, causing Midorima to turn an even darker shade of red.

"I'm leaving," Midorima muttered, storming out of the restaurant.

"Oh dear. Well, I'll see you two another time, Aomine-kun, Sato-kun!" Takao said, quickly paying and running after Midorima. "Shin-chan, waaaaait!"

Ren was still laughing. "I remember Midorima-san to be eccentric, but not to this extent."

"Oh, you knew Midorima at Teiko, too?"

"No, I only knew of him. I was a shooting guard, you know? My specialty was three pointers. So I watched DVDs of every single one of Midorima-san's matches, practices and other stuff. Sometimes I'd sit in the gym and just watch him play," he said, sadness tingeing his eyes. "I was almost as good, that's why I got promoted to the upper echelons of the second string. Akashi-san said if I worked on my accuracy and was able to shoot from anywhere, I might even make it to first string."

"But you had your accident."

"Yeah. That one time I talked to you at Teiko, I was trying to practice shooting non three-pointers. I wanted to be able to get a basket from anywhere on the court. But oh well, that's in the past now."

Aomine frowned. "You really liked basketball, huh."

"Still really like," Ren corrected. "Now, hurry up and order whatever you want before this place closes!" He pushed the menu towards Aomine.

"Hey, Ren?" Aomine said, looking up from the menu.

"Yeah?"

Aomine leaned forward and touched his lips to his. "Thanks."

Ren looked away, embarrassed. "Why're you thanking me? I'd be a horrible boyfriend if I didn't even treat you after you won a game."

Aomine laughed. "Not for that, stupid. I'll tell you another day."

* * *

"You eat a lot," Ren noted, once they had arrived at his house. He looked into his empty wallet sadly.

"And you eat entirely too little. You're so _skinny. _One day you're just going to fly out of your wheelchair when a strong gust of wind blows," Aomine chided.

"I'll just use you to weigh me down, then."

"Are you calling me _fat_?" Aomine said incredulously.

Ren grinned, looking at Aomine. "You're not fat. You just weigh a lot."

"It's muscle, okay? Pure muscle," Aomine said, pouting. "I mean, look at these guns." He flexed his arms, rolling up the sleeves to show off his biceps.

Ren doubled over in laughter. "You're so _cute_, you know that, Daiki?"

Aomine lay down next to Ren. "I've been called a lot of things, but never cute. I don't think it suits me."

"Really?" Ren said, reaching over to touch Aomine's cheek. "I think every part of you is adorable."

"You say such embarrassing things, I swear. I have a reputation to uphold, you know."

"Not in front of me, you don't."

"Yeah, you're right," Aomine replied, curling his arms around Ren to pull him closer. "Truth be told, though, you're the adorable one."

"You're only saying that because I'm shorter than you. People usually think small things are cute," Ren mumbled, still not used to being in such close proximities to Aomine.

"You could be eight feet tall, and I'd still think you were cute."

"If I was eight feet tall, you'd run away from me, screaming."

"Murasakibara's practically eight feet tall, and he's adorable."

Ren pouted. "I'm jealous. Should I start calling you Mine-chin, then?"

"If you start calling me Mine-chin, I'll punch you," Aomine said pleasantly.

"Aw, does Mine-chin not like his cute, little nickname?"

"I'm serious, Ren."

"Sorry, I'll stop. Mine-chin." He tried to suppress a laugh.

"That's not funny! And you have such a tiny name I can't even give you a stupid nickname."

"Maybe I could call you Dai-chan. Like Momoi-san does."

"Just leave it at Daiki, okay? I like how my name sounds when you say it," Aomine admitted grudgingly.

"Aw, and I was just getting used to Mine-chin," Ren teased, laughing.

"I'm serious. One more time, and I'll seriously punch you."

"Sorry, sorry. I like it when you say Ren, too. Actually, I like it when you say anything."

"Why are we so mushy? If anyone was listening to us, they'd probably gag," Aomine said, grinning.

Ren nodded. "It would sound pretty gross to someone other than us."

"You know what would sound grosser? This." Aomine took Ren's face in his hands, and kissed him slowly. He hesitantly coaxed Ren's lips open after a few moments, not wanting to rush anything.

Ren, however, was more than willing to let Aomine's tongue slip past his lips, his own following suit.

He wasn't sure how long they had been kissing for by now; all sense of time in his mind was completely lost. But he did know that he never wanted to stop. If he could spend the rest of his life just kissing Aomine, it still wouldn't be enough.

It was Aomine who pulled away first, looking a little dazed. "Wow."

"Wow," Ren echoed, nodding.

"It doesn't embarrass you, does it? Like being affectionate in public and stuff."

"If it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother me. I don't really have any reputation to uphold, or anything," Ren teased.

"The crap doesn't matter to me. I'd kiss you in front of the whole damn school, and let everyone know you're mine," he said defiantly.

Tears suddenly came to Ren's eyes, and he tried to brush them away quickly.

"Hey, why are you crying? What I said really wasn't that romantic, you know?" Aomine said, gently wiping away Ren's tears.

"No, it's just…to someone whose own parents considered him a burden, finding someone like you…it's kind of unreal."

Aomine wrapped his arms around Ren protectively, burying his face in the younger boy's hair. "I don't think it's possible for me to think of you as anything but the most amazing person in the universe."

"That's because you love me, stupid." Ren laughed through his tears. "And stop stealing my lines."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Aomine grinned, rubbing small circles into his boyfriend's back.

* * *

_**I just HAD to put in MidoTaka LOL. They're just so slfjslfkjs. And I have so many ideas for this fic idk how I'm gonna fit them all in. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I would greatly appreciate any reviews and criticisms! - sarah**_


	8. birthday boy

The next month or so practically flew by for both Ren and Aomine. The two had told Aomine's parents about their relationship, and they were incredibly supportive. Their incessant teasing of Aomine had now resulted in them teasing Ren as well, especially when Ren stayed the night. Aomine's mother especially made sure to make no less than ten sexual innuendos every time Ren visited.

April was coming to a close, and with that, Ren's birthday approached. And Aomine was in an utter state of panic.

"Satsuki, what should I do for his birthday?" Aomine said, after having forced Satsuki to come to lunch with him.

"Take him out for dinner some place expensive!" she said, nodding. "And then get him a small, but meaningful, gift."

"I don't have money for an expensive place though," he whined. "And I don't want to take him somewhere he'll feel uncomfortable."

"I've got it, then. Take him out for pizza. You know that cute little pizzeria near your house? And then when you take him home, give him his present, kiss him goodnight, and go home. Do _not_ stay the night," she said, ticking each item off on her fingers as she stated it.

Aomine pouted. "Why not?"

"Because it's his _birthday_, stupid. If you stay over, you'll have to take responsibility for doing so."

"I don't get what you—ah. Okay. No staying over. Satsuki, you're a lifesaver." Aomine stood up, grinning. "See you!"

* * *

Ren's phone rang. "Hello?"

"Keep tomorrow night free. I'll pick you up at six," said Aomine, hanging up immediately.

Ren's heart did backflips in his chest, but there was a small pit of dread in his stomach. _How am I gonna tell him now…?_

The rest of the day, and the next day crept by at the pace of a snail for Ren, and he almost exclaimed with joy when he heard his doorbell ring at precisely 6pm.

He unlocked the door to see his boyfriend, blushing and his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Happy birthday," he said, kissing the top of Ren's head.

"Thank you!" Ren replied, flushing with pure joy.

"I'm starving so let's get moving." Aomine stepped behind Ren, kissing the back of his neck softly before taking the handles of his wheelchair.

"Where are we going?"

"Pizza," Aomine replied. "And you're going to eat every single morsel of food I order for you."

"Daiki," Ren whined.

"You can sound as cute as you want, but I'm not taking no for an answer," Aomine said cheerfully, as they arrived at the pizzeria. He picked a little table next to the window.

"Hey, Daiki. I really can't eat too much, okay? I'll throw up all over you and waste your money," Ren said, giving Aomine puppy dog eyes.

Aomine ignored him. "Garlic bread and cheese sticks for the both of us. A small pepperoni for me, and…spinach and grilled chicken for you, with extra sauce, right?"

"Y-Yeah," Ren said, secretly happy that Aomine remembered how he liked his pizza.

"We'll share the garlic bread and cheese sticks for now, and if we want more, we can get more," he said, closing the menu, and placing their order.

"Tell me something. The day we went to okonomiyaki, you said thank you, and said you'd tell me why you said it another day."

"Oh. That. Um, nothing really." He scratched his head, embarrassed. "I guess it was just a thank you for being in my life. I just really didn't remember being that happy before in my entire life."

Ren reached over the table and took Aomine's hands in his. "Can I just say that you are the cutest person to ever exist?" he said seriously.

"I _still _don't know how you see me as cute," Aomine said, shaking his head. "Like _how. _I'm practically a monster by Japanese standards."

"You say cute things," Ren explained. "Like, you say such adorable stuff, that it sounds weird coming out of you. That's why it's cute."

"Oh, so you're saying my face isn't cute?" Aomine demanded.

Ren shook his head, grinning. "Daiki is sexy, not cute."

Aomine opened his mouth, and then closed it. His mind had gone blank, and anything clever he could say back to that had simply vanished.

"Well…yeah," he said, feeling incredibly lame. "Of course I'm sexy. Everyone knows that."

Ren laughed. "I love you, Daiki."

* * *

"Daiki, I think I'm going to die," Ren groaned, hitting his forehead lightly against the table. "I don't think I've eaten this much in a _week_ before."

Aomine grinned, pleased. "Slowly, I'll fix your eating habits. Soon, you'll eat that much and even want seconds," he declared.

"I sincerely, sincerely doubt that."

"Come on, it's getting late. I'll drop you off home."

"You're not gonna stay the night?" Ren asked, sadness creeping into his voice.

"I…have something to do," he said lamely. "Tomorrow. I promise."

"No, it's okay. I've just gotten too used to you sleeping over that I take it for granted," he said, smiling sheepishly.

"I still have to give you your birthday present, so I'll come in for a couple of minutes."

"Eh? But this dinner. Wasn't that my present?"

"Stupid. I'm not gonna cheap out on my boyfriend," he grumbled, cheeks turning a light pink. "It's your birthday."

Ren turned a light pink, and he stayed silent. While still wondering what Aomine could have possibly gotten for him, his thoughts were interrupted by Aomine's voice telling him to unlock the door.

"So, I really didn't know what to get you. I mean it's easy for chicks. Just get 'em a necklace and they'll squeal till their next birthday. But I wanted to get you something special. So I hope it's not too weird. You know how people get jerseys of their favourite NBA players and stuff…well…um…happy birthday." He thrust a gift bag into Ren's lap.

Curious, Ren pulled out a black and red jersey with the number five on it; Aomine's Touou basketball jersey.

"I got it refitted for you. I dunno, is it too weird?" Aomine wasn't looking at Ren, finding his feet much more interesting at the moment.

Ren pulled on Aomine's shirt, to ask him to bend down. He obliged, and Ren kissed him for a brief moment. "It's probably the best birthday present I've ever gotten. And this is the best birthday of my life, Daiki. I love you."

"I was supposed to give you your birthday kiss, not the other way around," Aomine grumbled. His slipped his hand around the back of Ren's neck and kissed him with a new sense of urgency. Their tongues wrestled, and their breathing was shallow and heavy when their lips parted for those brief moments.

"I love you. God, I love you," Aomine whispered, pulling away from Ren's lips.

"Daiki, I have to tell you something," Ren said quietly, looking into his eyes.

"Anything."

"My parents called the other day. They're in London right now. They want me to visit them while they're there for a few months. Till about July."

Aomine blinked. "And you're going…?"

"Yeah. I want to. It's only for a couple of months, anyways," he said, fidgeting. "I'm really sorry. I'll be back before the summer ends though. And before your birthday."

"But…you'll miss the rest of my Inter High games," he said, knowing he was sounding childish. But he really didn't want Ren to leave.

"I'm sorry, Daiki. But I think it's important that I go."

"When's your flight?"

"Tomorrow afternoon," he said softly.

"I'll take you to the airport, okay? My old man can probably drive us. You'd better get me some kickass souvenir, or I won't be happy," Aomine said, but his voice was dull. The thought of having to spend almost three months without Ren was sounding really unbearable at the moment.

Ren curled his arms around Aomine, pulling him in for a tight hug. "I'll be back before you know it."

* * *

_**Keeping the events of the next chapter bottled up is going to kill me. If I didn't have to study I'd have written it already, but alas. - sarah**_


	9. walk

Aomine's mood took an extreme nosedive in the days after Ren went to London. He started skipping practices again, and skipping classes, and just lying on the school roof until Satsuki came and told him it was time to go home.

Satsuki also told him that what he was doing was unhealthy, and then Ren-chan would be incredibly disappointed, and Aomine just told her to shut up, because he knew Ren would be disappointed, but it was Ren's fucking fault for leaving him.

And he also knew how childish he was being, because of course Ren would want to see his family, and he didn't break up with him or anything. And it was Ren that called him every single day, and told him about what he did that day, and how he missed Aomine so much it was killing him.

And Aomine just listened to Ren, murmuring in agreement that he missed Ren as well, and that he loved him.

Aomine felt that something fishy was going on, when he asked Ren how his family was doing, and the boy let it slip that he wasn't seeing them much, before immediately covering up what he said. Which Aomine found odd, because, wasn't Ren there to visit his family? But he decided not to pry, because if it was important, Ren would have told him already.

The Inter High was also slowly coming to the final games. His next game was against Kaijou. Against Kise. For the first time since Ren had gone to London, Aomine's mood was slightly elevated. It was always fun playing against Kise, and he could always go all out.

Then his mood plummeted again, because he wished Ren was there to see his game with Kise, because it would have been a good game compared to the trash he was usually forced to play.

* * *

"I beat Kaijou today," Aomine informed Ren on the phone.

"That's amazing! I wish I could have seen the game," Ren murmured wistfully. "Maybe someone taped it, and I can watch it later."

"How much longer until you come back?" he asked. Aomine was hoping, praying, that Ren's trip would be shortened and he'd come back faster than he had said he would.

"Just a month more, Daiki. My flight lands in Tokyo on the 21st of July around two in the afternoon. If you're not busy, could you come get me from the airport?"

"Busy?" Aomine scoffed. "I have such a lack of things to do that I'm going to waste away slowly. I'll talk to you tomorrow, alright?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too. So much."

Aomine hung up the phone and fell back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He picked up his phone and dialed Kuroko's number.

"Yes, Aomine-kun?" came the reply of his soft-spoken friend.

"Wanna hang out tomorrow, Tetsu?"

"I'd like that. Can Kagami-kun come along?"

"The more the merrier, really. Maybe we can all play basketball. I'll ask Kise, too."

He heard, yes heard, Kuroko smile. "It'll be fun to hang out with Aomine-kun and Kise-kun again."

* * *

So it became almost a daily thing during the summer, on the days where none of them had practices or games. Aomine, Kise, Kagami and Kuroko, or some combination of the four, depending on who was busy that particular day and who wasn't, would go out to eat and then play street basketball until the sun went down.

Aomine's nighttime conversations with Ren had become more animated, the latter was extremely glad that Aomine was having fun.

"Maybe I can hang out with you and your friends when I get back."

"What do you mean, maybe? You're going to. I talk about you so much, that they're all dying to meet you. Especially Kise. He's started calling you Satocchi and he still hasn't met you," Aomine said, laughing.

"I'm honoured. Tell Kise-san I want to meet him properly, too," Ren said, happier than he had been during his entire vacation.

And so the remainder of the days until Ren's return flew by, and Aomine was waiting at the arrivals area of the airport, staring intently at the doors. Ren's flight had landed about half an hour previously.

His concentration was interrupted for a brief moment when heard a crash a few feet away from him, and an oh so familiar voice exclaiming sorry over and over again.

His view of the person was blocked by the woman who he had apparently knocked down, and was now helping her with her belongings. And when the woman _finally _moved, Aomine's mouth fell open, and he felt as if his eyes were about to bulge out of their sockets.

Because there, brushing himself off as he _stood up_, was Ren. He was wearing black skinny jeans that hugged his waist perfectly, and Aomine's Touou jersey that he had received for his birthday. His hair was tied back in his perfect ponytail, and a grey hoodie was loosely tied around his waist.

Aomine was staring. He couldn't stop. There was his boyfriend, his Ren. And he was _walking_ towards the waiting area, where Aomine was supposed to be. Shaking his head, he somehow managed to croak out Ren's name, causing the boy to turn around, his face morphing into the widest grin Aomine had ever seen on anyone.

"Daiki!" he exclaimed, as Aomine ran towards him.

"The jersey, it looks good on you," he whispered, touching Ren's cheek.

Ren just took Aomine's face in his hands and kissed him with a furious sort of passion. "I missed you," he said quietly, panting.

Aomine just looked at him. "You look amazing. Like shit, I might get a boner in the middle of the airport kind of amazing." He clapped his hand over his mouth as he realized that he was speaking his thoughts aloud.

Ren laughed, the beautiful sound ringing in Aomine's ears. "That's my line," he said, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

"That aside, you're horrible. _How_ could you keep this from me?" Aomine demanded, crossing his arms in a childish way.

Ren pecked Aomine's lips. "I wanted it to be a surprise. Now we can go on proper dates, and hold hands and stuff. And I can play one-on-one with Daiki. The reason I took an extra month in London was because I specifically asked for prostheses that I could run in, and play basketball in. So getting used to them took longer," Ren explained. "I'm sorry for not telling you Daiki, but it was covered by my parents' insurance in London…and it's so expensive otherwise. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. You understand…right?"

"I was just playing around, stupid," Aomine said gruffly. "And don't think our relationship will be any more _proper_ now. It's just as proper now as it was when you were in a wheelchair."

Ren slipped his hand into Aomine's. "But now I can walk alongside you. And I can give you surprise kisses, because I won't have to ask you to bend down anymore," he said cheerfully, kissing his boyfriend's cheek.

"Hey. I'm really happy, you know? Seeing you…like this. Seeing you so happy. Shit, I'm crying," Aomine muttered, roughly wiping away the few tears that escaped. "You're still shorter than me though. I'm glad you're not eight feet tall."

"You're less than 20cm taller than me," Ren pouted, puffing out his cheeks. He gently, wiped away the remainder of Aomine's tears with his thumbs. "So, are you free for the rest of the day?"

Aomine squeezed Ren's hand. "I'm afraid not. I have _a lot _of catching up to do with my boyfriend. He just got back from vacation, you know?" he said, grinning.

* * *

_**Guys. GUYS. I think I died a little inside writing this chapter because of FEELS. And because I wanted to write this chapter since I started the fic. I FINALLY GOT TO WRITE IT. And now my brain is teeming with a tenfold amount of ideas someone stop me. - sarah**_


	10. friends

A few hours later, Ren was lying on his couch. With Aomine lying on top of him. Kissing him, or rather, _catching up._

They had walked back to his house from the airport. Ren had showed Aomine some of the stuff he had bought in England, and then Aomine had asked to see his prostheses. They were sitting side by side on the couch, making small talk for a grand total of five minutes until Aomine had pushed him down on the couch, claiming they needed to do some _real _catching up. And they had been _catching up_ since then.

Ren pulled away, pressing a finger to Aomine's lips. "Let's go on a date, Daiki."

Aomine pouted. "A little longer?"

"Later," Ren promised, pushing Aomine's chest lightly.

Aomine pressed a kiss to Ren's neck before reluctantly sitting up. "Where do you wanna go?"

"Maji Burger. Then, let's play some basketball," Ren said, grinning. He was bouncing up and down excitedly.

Aomine grinned back, slipping his fingers through Ren's. "Three burgers for you, today."

"Baby steps, Daiki. Two."

The two left Ren's house, walking hand-in-hand. Ren squeezed his boyfriend's hand, smiling to himself. He knew it didn't matter to Aomine, but _walking_ like this after almost two years in a wheelchair, next to the person he loved was truly the best feeling in the world.

Ren looked at Aomine's face. He was silent, but the smile on his lips told Ren that he felt the same way. He spotted a Maji Burger, and pointed towards it but Aomine shook his head.

"Let's go to the next one. I don't want to stop walking with you just yet."

"You don't miss wheeling me around?" Ren joked.

"It's different, stupid," Aomine grumbled. "This way I can proudly walk around and let everyone know that Sato Ren is _my_ boyfriend. It was a little ambiguous with the wheelchair, you know."

"Hey Daiki. When did you start liking me?" Ren asked. He had been trying to build up the courage to ask Aomine this question for a while now.

"Somewhere during the time I was training you. But I didn't really realize it until you told me you lived alone. And when I told you that you were coming to my house for dinner the next night and you said, 'Thanks Daiki, I'd love that.' I realized then that I wanted you to say _I love you, Daiki_, so bad. I mean, I'm narcissistic, but not nearly enough to want someone to tell me that they love me, when I don't have feelings for them, too. Then, when I realized you liked me too, it was so hard to wait for you to confess." Aomine was blushing now, looking pointedly away from Ren.

Ren laughed softly. "Why didn't you confess first?"

"You liked me for a lot longer, dummy. It was only fair that you confessed. Of course, if you took longer than a week, I was going to. Let's go into that Maji Burger." Aomine pointed to the branch on the next intersection.

"Your logic is funny," Ren said, once they had sat down with their meals.

"It makes sense! I mean say I had liked you for years and I was just waiting for the right time to confess, and then you just did it. I'd be pretty pissed, like I wasted all that time planning _for nothing_?" Aomine said defensively, shoving fries into his mouth.

"I wouldn't have cared, though. I was happy just staying friends with Daiki for the rest of my life," Ren said cheerfully, biting into his own burger.

"You're stupid. You should be glad I fell in love with you, otherwise you'd be in pain watching me with someone else," Aomine pointed out. "Then it'd hurt for you to even stay friends with me."

"I had enough faith in your lack of any romantic motivation," Ren teased.

"Hey! I have had people _falling_ over me since middle school, I'll have you know. I was just waiting for the right person to come along. I have plenty of romantic motivation when it comes to you," Aomine said, looking intensely into Ren's eyes. "_Lots_ of romantic motivation."

"Are you thinking perverted thoughts, Daiki?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No!" Aomine said vehemently. Then he appeared to give a little more thought into what Ren had just said. "Well…maybe."

Ren laughed, a light blush creeping up his cheeks. "If you want, we could—" he began, but he was cut off by a shrill voice shouting, "Aominecchi!"

"Eh? Kise?" Aomine said, looking confused. "What are you doing here?"

"_We_ could ask you the same," Kise replied, motioning to Kuroko and Kagami behind him. "You _totally_ ditched us because Satocchi was coming back today, instead you're here with… With who, exactly?"

"Satocchi himself," Aomine said, teeth clenched as he gave Kise a menacing smile.

Ren turned around to look at Kise. "Pleased to meet you, Kise-san!" he said with a smile.

Kise just stared. "B-B-But your wheelchair! Aominecchi, were you _lying_?!" Kise exclaimed. Behind him, Kuroko just looked at the scene expressionless, while Kagami was repeatedly hitting his forehead at Kise's displays of idiocy.

Ren rolled up one of the legs of his jeans a few inches to show off his prosthetic leg. "That's why I was in London!"

"Can you play basketball with those?" Kagami asked, curiously looking at the prosthesis.

"Theoretically, yes. I haven't tried yet, though," Ren said. "Maybe we could all play together!"

Aomine grunted, annoyed that his date had been interrupted. He glared at Kise, hoping that the latter would get the hint and scram, but the blonde was as dense as ever.

"That sounds great! I would love to play with Satocchi!" Kise said happily, clasping his hands together.

"Well, we're practically done here, so we can go now! Daiki, you can take the rest of your food to go, right?" Ren asked, looking at the two burgers that were untouched on his tray.

Aomine hesitated, but his boyfriend just looked so _happy_, that he couldn't say no. He smiled despite himself. "Yeah, I'll just put them in my bag. Let's go." Aomine stood up, and took Ren's hand, eliciting a smile from Kuroko and a squeal at how _utterly adorable _the two were from Kise, and how _Kurokocchi and I should hold hands_, resulting in Kagami threatening to kick the blonde.

Ren laughed, enjoying the company of Aomine's friends greatly. When he was certain that the other three were sufficiently occupied amongst themselves, he leaned up to kiss Aomine's cheek, mouthing a _thank you_.

"Stupid," Aomine grumbled, mussing Ren's hair with his free hand.

* * *

"Go easy on me, please. I haven't played for almost two years. Or walked for almost two years, either," Ren said cheerfully. Kise had decided that he wanted to play a one-on-one against Ren first, and thus the two were on the court with Aomine, Kagami and Kuroko watching from the sidelines.

"You hurt a hair on his head, and you're dead meat," Aomine said, glaring at Kise.

"You're so scary, Aominecchi," Kise pouted. "Doesn't he scare you, Satocchi?"

Ren laughed. "Maybe just a little," he said, looking at Aomine with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Okay, Satocchi. I'll let you take the first basket, just so you can get a feel of the court again," Kise said, passing the ball to Ren.

Ren nodded, suddenly nervous. _It's okay. I've got this. _He dribbled the ball to the three point line and shot from there, getting the ball in the basket. He sighed with relief, glad he hadn't made a fool out of himself.

"Oh, Satocchi is a shooting guard? Well, I'll try to go easy on you!"

The game progressed for only ten minutes, but even with Kise going easy against him, Ren only managed to score nine points against him. He sank into the bench, positively exhausted and embarrassed.

"Hey, you okay?" Aomine asked quietly, sitting next to Ren once Kagami had stormed onto the court, demanding that Kise play him.

"Yeah. I knew I'd be worse than before, but I didn't realize I'd be this bad," he said softly, looking at his feet.

"You just need to practice with your new legs, that's all. Like you practiced to get good before your accident, right? You just need to do it again," Aomine said. He stretched Ren's lips with his fingers. "Now, smile!"

"Will you train me again, Daiki?" he asked.

"Of course, stupid. Though I might end up falling in love with you all over again," Aomine said, grinning as he pulled Ren in for a hug. Then, something dawned on him. "H-Hey…what were you saying before Kise showed up?"

Ren turned pink again, as he remembered. "Um, nothing important," he lied.

Aomine frowned, but decided not to pry further. "My parents are out for a week, do you wanna sleep over?" he asked, nuzzling Ren's ear.

"I thought you'd never ask," he said, grinning as he pulled Aomine in for a kiss.

* * *

_**I wonder what Ren was talking about...teehee. - sarah**_


	11. bullet trains

Aomine groggily got up the next morning, having completely forgotten that Ren was back from London and had in fact spent the night at his house. Getting out of bed, he went to take a shower, contemplating on whether he should just go eat breakfast naked, or not. Deciding against it, he wrapped a towel around his waist and slowly walked to the kitchen, yawning.

"Oh, you're awake! I made break—Oh." Ren dropped the spoon he was holding, turning a bright shade of red as he stared at Aomine's bare torso.

"Oh shit. Shit. I forgot you were here. Fuck!" Aomine exclaimed, bolting back up the stairs. He came back downstairs a few minutes later, now clothed, and pretending that the previous events had not occurred.

"So, you're making breakfast," he said casually, sitting down on the kitchen table.

"Y-Yeah. I woke up early so I figured I'd just make some eggs or something," he said, still visibly flushed.

"That's sweet of you," he said. Aomine was always uncharacteristically nice to Ren, but the sugar in his voice at that moment seemed even more out of place than usual. The older boy walked behind Ren and curled his arms around his waist, burying his face in his soft, silky hair. "You know, I love all of you, but I especially love your hair."

"Daiki, are you okay?" Ren asked, laughing weakly. Had he had real knees, he was sure they would've buckled by now. The shock of seeing Aomine practically naked, and now this close physical contact was taking an emotional toll on Ren.

"Yeah. I'm just so happy you're back. And seeing you standing up… I wanted to spend all of yesterday together, just you and me, but then _Kise _showed up," he said, pouting. "And then I had to _compete_ for your attention. Kise isn't better looking than me, is he?"

"Conventionally, most people would say Kise-san is better looking, because you just look like you're about to kill everyone around you," Ren said. "But no one in the world is better looking to me than you are."

"If you say so." Aomine took the plate of food that Ren had prepared for him on the counter, and went back to sit down.

"You're cute when you're jealous, you know?" Ren commented, sitting down in front of him. "Wanna know something funny?"

"Hm? Sure."

"I was _always_ jealous of you and Kise-san back in Teiko. Because I wanted to play one-on-one with Daiki so bad! And Kise-san was so much cooler and better looking than me. So it's funny that _you _were jealous of Kise-san yesterday," Ren said, laughing.

Aomine made a face. "Kise's too gross for me. You're a million times better looking than him. Oh, these eggs are great."

"Are they? I'm glad," he said, face flushing again because of Aomine's earlier comment.

"Anyways, let's play some one-on-one today. I can start training you, too."

* * *

Ren spent the rest of August completely panicking; he had no idea what to do for Aomine's birthday. He wanted to plan a trip, but he couldn't go to the beach or hot springs because of his prosthetic legs, and he didn't have enough money for airplane tickets. In fact, he didn't have much money for anything at all.

So while somehow keeping this a secret from Aomine, he managed to get a part time job waiting tables at a small restaurant.

Two days before Aomine's birthday, he printed out his hard earned tickets; two return bullet train tickets from Tokyo to Aomori and two return ferry tickets from Aomori to Hakodate. Because of the expense of the tickets, he had only managed to book a small motel room for two days and one night, but he figured they'd be out for most of the day, so it wouldn't really matter.

And then came the task of telling Aomine about this, and hoping to every higher power that he didn't have plans already because everything was non-refundable.

"What's up?" came Aomine's reply once he picked up the phone.

"H-Hey. Are you free on the 31st and the 1st?" Ren asked quietly, his heart beating out of control.

"Yeah, I'm always free. You should know that by now," Aomine said, laughing.

"Well, um, it's your birthday on the 31st, right? I have tickets. To uh, Hakodate. If you wanna go."

Aomine was silent for a moment, and Ren was suddenly dreading his answer. "_Hakodate?!_ The fuck? That's so far! And expensive!" he exclaimed.

"I wanted to do something special," he said in a small voice.

"Fuck, don't tell me you've been working to get the money? Ren, anything I do with you is special, you didn't have to go all extravagant on me," Aomine said, sighing.

"I'm sorry."

"For being the most amazing boyfriend ever? Yeah, damn straight you should apologize," Aomine said, chuckling now. "I'll see you on the morning of the 31st, then, okay?"

And sure enough, Aomine was at Ren's house at 6am sharp on the morning of the 31st. Knocking on the door, he was greeted by a long kiss from Ren and a murmured _happy birthday_, and Aomine had no idea how this day could possibly get any better.

Ren had made the two of them breakfast, a birthday cake, and they went into the city to catch the train at 1pm. The trip took most of the day, and they only made it to Hakodate just as the sun was setting.

"Oh no, I was hoping we could do something today," Ren pouted. "We just spent your whole birthday on a train."

"It was the best damn train ride ever though," Aomine protested, draping his arm around Ren's shoulders. "Come on, we can still grab dinner and walk around town before turning in for the night. I've heard that there's no better sushi than Hakodate sushi."

Ren grinned, happier because of Aomine's words.

They had walked the streets until they found an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. And because of Aomine, and much to Ren's amusement, the owners of the restaurant probably regretted making it a buffet.

"Ugh, I'm so full," Aomine complained, as they arrived at their motel.

"Daiki, you eat _way_ too much," Ren scolded. "You probably ate a month's worth of food for someone like me."

"I'm a growing boy. And you eat too little."

"If you grow anymore, I'm going to run away screaming," Ren teased.

"Come here, you," Aomine laughed, pulling Ren in for a hug. "Thanks for the best birthday ever. You're really amazing."

"I still have one more present for you," he said quietly, glad his blush went unnoticed in the dark.

"Stop it, you're making me feel bad about the shitty present I got you, now," Aomine grumbled. "I'm gonna go take a shower first, and then you can give it to me."

Ren sat on the bed and fidgeted the entire time Aomine was in the shower. _No, I definitely want this, too._

"So what is it? If it's something stupidly extravagant, I'm going to punch you, I swear," Aomine said, towelling his wet hair as he walked out of the bathroom.

Ren stood up and walked towards Aomine. "Daiki, I really, really love you. And I trust you from the bottom of my heart. I wanted to say this to you before, but…Daiki, if you want to, we can go the whole way. I'm ready. And if not tonight, whenever you want. I don't want you to hold back anymore," Ren whispered.

* * *

_**Just a bit of trivia for those who don't know: Aomori is at the very north of the Tohoku region, and Hakodate is at the very south of Hokkaido, so the two cities are just a ferry ride apart :3  
Also lsfkjslkfjslf. Okay. I really want to keep this fic T and so I don't want to write anything explicit/M/NC-17, and I hope everyone's okay with that, and I'm not disappointing anyone. T_T I'm sorry. - sarah**_


	12. why

Aomine gulped. "You're sure…right?" he asked softly, cupping Ren's face with his hands.

"Happy birthday, Daiki," Ren said, a kind smile on his face.

"I'm not gonna hold back then, alright? Fuck, I knew that's what you were gonna say when that bastard Kise showed up. God, you really have no idea how much I've…well, wanted you," Aomine growled softly, pushing Ren up against a wall in the room.

"I'm sorry," he pouted, looking at his feet.

"I'm not gonna stop now, okay?" Aomine pressed his lips against Ren's, kissing him slowly at first, but Aomine was hungry. His kisses became urgent and furious.

Ren was trying to keep up with Aomine's pace, but it was practically impossible. Right now, Aomine's kisses were like his basketball; unpredictable, unrelenting, fascinating, and just downright amazing. Ren couldn't help grinning against Aomine's lips.

"Hey, what's so funny?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking about how amazing you are," Ren said, pulling off his hair tie and letting his hair tumble down.

Aomine groaned softly, burying his fingers in Ren's hair. "I can never really get over just how much I love your hair," he whispered, crushing his lips against his boyfriend's again. This time, Aomine steered him towards the bed, gently pushing him onto it. He left a trail of kisses along Ren's jaw before lightly biting down on the soft skin of his neck, eliciting a quiet moan from his boyfriend.

The soft sound made Aomine's heart beat faster. He bit down just a little harder, his tongue flicking out to soothe the small wound.

"Nhh…Daiki…" Ren gasped. He knew he was just as turned on as Aomine was right about now, and the beast inside Ren was struggling to escape. He _wanted_ Aomine.

"Yeah?" Aomine was grinning against the skin of Ren's neck.

"T-Take off my legs, first. I don't want them to hurt you," he said quietly.

"Mmm…in a bit," Aomine said, looking at Ren as if he were deciding what part of him he wanted to violate first.

Ren tugged the hem of Aomine's shirt impatiently, and the taller boy chuckled, letting Ren take his shirt off. He shivered as Ren's thin fingers swept over his chest and abs.

"Daiki's body is the best," Ren grinned, looking up at his boyfriend. "The sexiest."

"I told you it was all muscle," Aomine retorted, turning red. "I am not fat."

"I'd still love you if you were fat."

"I know you would. And that's why I love you," Aomine said seriously. He slipped his hands inside Ren's shirt before pulling the garment over his head. He leaned down and pressed his lips against his pale stomach. "How is your skin so soft, I don't understand. You're so…beautiful. It's like you're practically glowing." His lips stopped at the waistband of Ren's shorts.

Aomine sat up and carefully took Ren's prostheses off, setting them against the bedside table before he practically threw himself onto the boy, kissing him wildly. This was the first time the two had kissed without the clothing barrier between them, and it was nothing like Aomine had ever experienced before. He felt Ren's heartbeat under him, every movement that he made. He felt him shiver as Aomine's tongue went past his lips, and he felt his body stiffen, and then relax, as Aomine tentatively slipped a hand inside of Ren's shorts.

"D-Daiki…I don't think I can last much longer," Ren whimpered softly.

"Shh…just a little bit more," Aomine said, as he slowly finished undressing his boyfriend.

"Daiki…"

* * *

Ren woke up the next morning feeling sore. Very, incredibly sore, but it was the most amazing feeling in the world. He grinned into the pillow, vividly recalling all of the events from the previous night.

They had made love four times; after the first time, Aomine had said it wasn't enough, and Ren agreed. The third time was because Ren had said it was unfair that Aomine had gotten to be on top both times, and it was his turn now. And after being topped by Ren, Aomine was just _so_ turned on that he practically begged Ren to let him go a fourth time.

After the fourth time, the two of them were so exhausted, that even if they had wanted to continue, they just had no stamina left. And they fell asleep almost immediately in each other's arms.

Ren sat up slowly, pulling on his boxers before putting his prostheses back on. He glanced around the small motel room, seeing no sign of Aomine. Walking to the bathroom, he noticed that Aomine wasn't in there, either.

He had just brushed his teeth and walked out of the bathroom when Aomine walked back into the room.

"Oh, you're awake?" he asked, closing the door behind him. "I realized we had no food, so I went out and got some burgers." He offered Ren a paper bag filled with sandwiches.

"Really, Daiki?" Ren laughed, putting the bag on a table.

"Hey, I'm hungry. I had quite the workout last night, you know?" he said, grinning as he leaned in to peck Ren on his lips.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I'm starved," Ren said, turning pink. He pulled a burger out of the bag and tossed it to Aomine before taking one for himself.

"So, what are we doing today?" Aomine asked.

"Anything you like. We have to catch the ferry around five, so we have about six hours to do whatever till then."

"Hey, uh, could you go put some clothes on?" Aomine said suddenly, not looking at Ren. "It's a little distracting."

Ren looked down, at what he was wearing and flushed. "I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, grabbing some clothes and running into the bathroom.

Aomine laughed quietly, hitting his head. _What am I, a blushing schoolgirl? Whatever, I can't help it. If he sat there practically naked for even a bit longer, I would've gotten another boner._

"Sorry," Ren repeated, sitting back down on the couch next to Aomine. His hair was all mussed up after having quickly put a shirt on. Aomine smoothed out the boy's hair.

"Hey, Ren?"

"Yeah?"

"Why me?"

"Huh?" Ren looked at Aomine quizzically. "Why you, what?"

"Why'd you fall in love with me, out of everyone at Teiko?"

"The first time I saw you play basketball, I didn't think it was possible for anyone to be that…_amazing._ Basically…I fell in love with your basketball first, and I really admired you. So I started skulking around to watch your games and practices. And then the admiration slowly turned into love, I guess. You were so…kind. Like, you don't have a mean bone in your body. I couldn't hate anything about you." Ren paused. "Except I _did_ hate how you never noticed me hanging around," he teased.

Aomine shook his head. "I don't know how I never noticed you before. I mean, I look at you now and I think…fuck, I'd never miss you anywhere. Maybe it's because you've become such an essential part of my life, I can't imagine ever not being with you."

"Promise you'll stay with me forever?" Ren suddenly blurted out. "I mean…"

Aomine hit Ren's head. "That's not something you have to ask. That's a given. I don't think I could fall in love with anyone after you. The mere idea seems impossible."

"Daiki? Why_ me_?"

* * *

_**I...don't know how I wrote this chapter, tbh. I went as far as I could without making it explicit and I hope no one hates me too much for stopping it where I did. :c And you'll get Aomine's heartfelt confession/explanation/whatever it should be called next time lfjlsfkjsl. Thank you all for reading this story thus far, I'm really and truly grateful ;^; - sarah**_


	13. because

Aomine scratched his head. "Damn, I figured you'd ask something like that soon," he grumbled, looking away from Ren.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ren pouted, staring at Aomine.

"It's embarrassing, stupid. I don't like talking about my feelings in that much detail. But okay, I'll tell you." Aomine curled an arm around Ren's shoulders and pulled him in close. "To be honest, I just considered you a friend for the longest time. In my brain, anyways. It was like, I felt this insane connection with you, you know? I didn't have to put up any pretenses in front of you, yet you didn't think I was an asshole or a douchebag or anything like that, and that's why I just really liked spending time with you." Aomine paused, as if formulating what to say next.

"It's okay, Daiki. You can stop if you want," Ren said.

"No, Ren. I was just thinking. Okay yeah, so I really liked spending time with you, right? I think it was that day that we went to the mall with Satsuki. Or like a couple of days after that, or something. I was still adamant that you were just a friend, but it's weird when friends think their other male friends are incredibly perfect, right? Like I started noticing how utterly good looking you are, and how you're probably the nicest person I've ever met, and then stuff you said started making me _blush_, and yeah that really wasn't normal, but I'm thick and just stopped thinking about it.

"Until I was over at your house, and you were talking about this person you _loved_, and there was this…jealous feeling. Like I wanted to ask what does _that person _have that I don't. And then I realized you were talking about me and goddammit, Ren, I don't think I had ever felt more relieved, more happy ever before." Aomine paused to laugh. "Damn, I was really happy. But then you were all like, I can never tell that person and I was like _fuck_, no you have to tell me this.

"I think that was the moment I realized I was in love with you. I thought back to all the time we had spent together, and I was remembering stuff like your laugh, your smile, sappy stuff like that. And I couldn't stop thinking about you and god fucking dammit, I just wanted to kiss you so bad, and you were just the most _perfect_ person I had ever met, and yeah, that's why."

"You know, Daiki, I just wanted to know why, not the whole story of how you fell in love with me," Ren teased.

"Shut up, I wanted to tell you, okay." Aomine was blushing. His arms were crossed and he was looking away pointedly.

"And me being crippled had no part to play in anything whatsoever?" he asked carefully.

"Should it have? I fell in love with you, not your wheelchair nor your legs. All I saw was the most gorgeous, the kindest, most positive, and the absolute most perfect boy I had ever laid eyes on."

"Daiki…" Ren whispered.

"Hmm?"

"I don't think I want to go out, anymore. I just wanna stay in here," he said quietly. "With you."

"Good. I was hoping you'd say that," Aomine said, pulling Ren closer so that the shorter boy was practically on his lap. "I mean Hakodate is beautiful. But it's really nothing compared to you."

"Daiki, you're so _cheesy_," Ren said, laughing.

"Besides, it's my birthday trip, so I'd like to spend it alone with you, thank you very much."

"We have five hours or so."

"Let's make the most of it, then," Aomine said, leaning up so he could kiss his boyfriend.

* * *

It was around midnight when the two made it back to Tokyo. Aomine and Ren took the bus to Ren's neighbourhood, as Ren insisted Aomine sleep over since his parents were still away on business trips.

Ren opened the door, and nearly froze, as the lights in his house were on and he could hear children running around.

"Now, would you like to tell us where you've been, young man?" said an older man who was sitting on the couch, looking at Ren with piercing eyes.

"Leaving your cell phone at home, too, no less!" came a woman's voice, and she soon walked into view. "That was highly irresponsible of you, Ren."

Ren blinked. "Well I had no idea you'd be coming back to Japan. So I went on a trip," he said defensively.

"We wanted to _surprise_ you. And a trip where? You _know_ it's hard for you to travel in your…condition. And people always stare, Ren. Especially places that aren't as open-minded as Tokyo is," said the woman, who Aomine assumed was Ren's mother.

"And what's wrong with Ren?" Aomine said suddenly, alerting his presence to Ren's parents.

"Ren, who's this?" Ren's father said.

"My boyfriend, father. Aomine Daiki. I was in Hakodate with him."

Aomine blinked. He knew Ren's parents were much stricter than his own, and he would've been glad to play along and just pretend that he was just a friend.

"Your…? Ren, dear, don't always say such misleading things. I'm sure you've made Aomine-san feel awkward now," his mother said, laughing. "In any case, it's nice to meet someone whom Ren is so close to." She bowed to Aomine.

Aomine wasn't laughing. "Ren's not saying any misleading things. I am his boyfriend, and we are dating."

Ren's father and mother looked at each other nervously. They looked down at Ren's legs, to see that he was wearing full-length pants.

"Aomine-san…you are aware of Ren's…_condition_, right?" his mother asked.

"Mother, please stop," Ren said quietly, not wanting to be in his parents' company anymore. "Come on Daiki, let's go to my room."

Aomine placed his hands on Ren's shoulders, not letting him move. "No, actually. I wasn't aware that Ren had any sort of condition," he said, voice and gaze both steely.

Ren's father sighed audibly. "Ren, relationships aren't built on lies. You should've told Aomine-san the truth. We're not that close-minded that we won't support your relationship, but I'd prefer he knows the truth before he decides whether he really wants to be with you or not."

"Actually, _sir_," Aomine said, his grip on Ren's shoulder's tightening. "Ren and I started dating while he was still in a wheelchair, if that's what you were referring to. But I don't appreciate you calling it a _condition _like he has some sort of disease. I always wondered why this guy was so self-deprecating when I first met him, but seeing you two, _his parents_, talk about him like he's some sort of abomination, I sort of understand why he was like that."

"Daiki, don't…" Ren mumbled quietly.

"No, Ren. Let me talk. There's absolutely nothing wrong with your son, Mr. and Mrs. Sato, so I would greatly appreciate it if you stopped acting like there is," Aomine said, his voice calmer now.

Ren gulped, sweat forming on his brow. _Now you've done it, Daiki…_

* * *

_**I love writing Aomine. That's all I have to say. Oh and, thank you for reading thus far! If you have any comments and criticisms, I'd love it if you reviewed! - sarah**_


	14. family

Ren's father was silent, lips pressed tightly together as he observed Aomine. "Aomine-san," he said, after a while.

"Yes?" Aomine said, looking Ren's father straight in his eyes. Ren gulped again, wondering where Aomine got his courage from.

"Actually, Ren. You pay attention to this, too," his father said. "The world is a cruel place. Especially to people who are less able, whether it be mentally or physically. The reason your mother and I didn't want to coddle you like a helpless child after your accident was so that you could be strong by yourself, because we knew you could. If we tried to shield you from the harshness of reality, you would've just become wounded inside as well."

"You could've still _supported_ me," Ren said quietly, fighting back tears. "You just abandoned me. I told you and mother to leave, and pursue you careers because I thought if I made you stay you'd just loathe me more than you already did. You…you really have no idea what I went through."

"Ren," his mother said softly, reaching out to hug her sun. Ren didn't push her away, but he made no movements to reciprocate the gesture. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"What should I have said?" Ren snapped. "Mother, father, when I was in the hospital recuperating from my injuries, and you were _much_ too busy to visit me, I tried to kill myself twice, and made the doctors and nurses promise not to say anything. When you left me alone and went to travel the world, I cried myself to sleep out of frustration every night because it was so hard to do simple tasks I just took for granted before. Then you would've been even more ashamed of me. Not only is your son a cripple, but he's a weak one at that."

"We were never ashamed of you, Ren," his father said calmly. "Nor are we ashamed now, after you've told us this. You're our son and we love you."

"Don't hate us, Ren," his mother whispered, tears streaming down her face.

"Bullshit," Aomine snarled. "He has every right to hate you two, to scream and yell and break things and cry and whatever, yet again he's just bottling it all in, and you know what he probably would have said if I weren't here? He would've apologized, and assured you that he could never hate you, and would have just pretended that everything was okay. But it's not okay, and you should just admit that you _were _ashamed of him, and apologize to him. Because you're wrong. The world isn't a cruel place. Ren and I went on dates when he was in a wheelchair. And we still go out with his prosthetic legs and people do _look_, yes, but it's out of curiosity, not malice."

Aomine paused to take a breath, looking at his slightly shocked audience. "Everyone at school loves Ren. They think he's great. I introduced him to my old friends from middle school, and they got along so well with him that I was almost _jealous_. I don't think you know the world at all, Mr. and Mrs. Sato. I think you were just looking to run away from your responsibilities as parents, because _you_ were judgmental and ashamed because your son was just missing a couple of limbs."

He was breathing heavily now, extremely angry. He didn't care if Ren's parents hated him forever. He'd just take Ren and run away far away from here.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Ren's father chuckled softly. "Well I'll be damned. Naomi, we really are bad parents, aren't we?"

Ren's mother just nodded, still crying. "We were horrible, Ren. And Aomine-san…he's absolutely right. No matter how much I try to deny it, he's right. We put ourselves above our son. We have no right to call ourselves _parents_," she wailed.

Ren's mouth twitched into a small smile. "Mother, you're being overdramatic."

"Aomine-san, I'm glad my son met someone like you," his mother said, turning her attention to Aomine now. "My little boy is growing up, and I wasn't even there to take pictures of his first date!"

Ren's father sighed, and stood up from the chair he was sitting in. "Naomi, you're embarrassing Ren. He's not 10 anymore." He placed a hand on Ren's shoulder. "Son, I should have asked you this a year ago, but, would you like to travel the world with us?" he asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"That…sounds lovely, father. Really. But…it'd be difficult to leave school and stuff now…you know?" Ren said. His heart was soaring with joy however, at his father's acceptance of everything. "And Daiki might do stupid things if I'm not around to watch over him."

Aomine glared at Ren. "Your son's a liar. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. But that's _not_ an invitation for you to leave Japan and go frolick around the world, you hear?"

"Aye aye, sir." Ren laughed, wrapping his arms tightly around his boyfriend. He was so grateful. So utterly and completely grateful to Aomine, that he had no idea how he could ever pay Aomine back for what he had done for him today.

"You can sleep over, of course, Aomine-kun. That's what you were planning right? But leave the door open, okay? And behave appropriately!" Ren's mother said, placing her hands on her hips in mock anger.

"Mother, stop," Ren grumbled, turning pink. "We're _closing_ the door, thank you very much." Ren grabbed Aomine's hand and dragged him into his room, shutting the door behind them. Ren's mother heard the click of the lock as well.

"That Aomine…he not only fixed Ren, but he fixed our whole family, too, huh?" Ren's father said after a few moments.

"I don't think Ren needed fixing. He just needed acceptance. And he got that and so much more from Aomine-kun. I know Aomine-kun is sincere. The look in his eyes told me that he's not going to stop loving Ren for the rest of his life," his mother murmured, looking at Ren's closed door fondly.

"I don't even have any worries leaving him alone in Japan anymore."

"Neither do I."

* * *

As soon as they were in the privacy of Ren's room, Aomine kissed him, slowly and silently.

"So were you ever planning on telling me that you tried to kill yourself?" Aomine asked, a lump rising in his throat. _Aomine Daiki does not cry. Get it together you pathetic excuse of a man._

Ren fidgeted, uncomfortable. "Eventually. I wasn't really trying to hide it, it just never came up."

Aomine hugged Ren tightly. "Don't ever have thoughts like that again, got that?"

"Daiki, I've never been happier in my entire life. And I get even happier every passing day. The only way I'd think stuff like that again was if you broke up with me," he joked lightly.

Aomine looked at Ren. "Good, then. Because I'm never, ever letting you go."

"Cheesy stuff doesn't sound cool coming out of you."

"Shut up, Ren. We were having a moment there," Aomine grumbled.

"No, but seriously. You'd better not break up with me. Ever," Ren said. His voice was threatening but there was a huge grin on his face.

"To do that, I'd have to find someone more perfect than you. And that person doesn't exist."

"Cheese, Daiki."

"Right. Sorry."

* * *

_**Omg I'm thinking of ways to wrap this story up and I JUST DON'T WANT TO EVER END IT. T_T I've grown way too attached to Ren. Sorry for the late update, I've had back to back exams and have been super busy. Thank you for reading! - sarah**_


	15. lies

The next few months flew by; school had resumed and so had the vigorous practices for the Touou basketball team, as the Winter Cup was fast approaching. Ren also saw less and less of Aomine as the tournament approached, as he had made sure Aomine went to every single practice, and didn't let his team down.

Okay, convincing Aomine to go to practices had not been easy at all for Ren; he had to somehow convince Aomine that it was better for him to go to practice than to go on dates, and obviously there was only one way Aomine would _ever_ agree to that.

Ren shuddered slightly as he walked home alone, again, wondering if Aomine would show up at his house again tonight to take his 'bribe.'

"I am not some cheap, ten-dollar whore," Ren said aloud, pouting. He quickly clamped his mouth shut, realizing he was attracting looks from people wondering what he was going on about. Not that he minded being Aomine's cheap, ten-dollar whore of course.

"You're a what now?" came Aomine's voice from behind him.

Ren nearly fell over. "D-Daiki! What are you…why aren't you at practice?" he demanded.

"Twisted four-eyes threw up so he cancelled practice for today," Aomine explained. "More importantly, _what_ did you just call yourself?"

"A cheap, ten-dollar whore," Ren said meekly, looking at Aomine with an apologetic grin.

Aomine leaned close to Ren, pressing his lips lightly to his boyfriend's ear. "Y'know, if having sex with me bothers you that much, just say so, okay?" he whispered, his drawl low and husky.

"You're horrible, Daiki. You _know_ I can't _stand_ it when you talk to me like that," Ren said, pushing Aomine away from him. He looked down at his pants, mournful. "See, look what you've done!"

Aomine grinned, draping an arm around Ren's shoulders. "Come on, let's get home now, so I can fix that for you."

Ren slipped his hand into Aomine's. "No, you didn't go to practice today."

"You're starting to sound like a cheap, ten-dollar whore now," Aomine grumbled.

Ren snatched his hand away from Aomine, and punched his shoulder lightly. "And whose fault is that? 'I'll only go practice, if I get to _practice_ you as well, because I'm Aomine Daiki, and I can't control my dick ha ha ha!'" Ren said, his voice gruff and deep in imitation of Aomine.

Aomine blushed. "That's not what I sound like! And if you're _so_ against it, why are you all 'Oh Daiki, don't stop! Please! I can't stand it anymore! Harder, Daiki!'" Aomine retaliated, his voice high pitched and girly.

"Please, I definitely don't sound like that. My voice is manly. Like rich, melted chocolate, I remember you telling me once," Ren said, grinning wickedly.

"Wh-Whatever! The point is, you say stuff like that, so don't pretend like you don't enjoy it!"

"When you beat Seirin," Ren said, taking Aomine's hand again.

"Huh?"

"That's the next time, okay? So you can't lose," Ren said, looking at Aomine seriously.

Aomine pouted. "But that's in three days!" he wailed.

* * *

Three days later, Touou Academy had lost to Seirin High, and were thus eliminated from the Winter Cup.

And Ren couldn't find Aomine anymore.

"Seriously, Daiki, this isn't fucking funny anymore," Ren wheezed into his phone, leaving his eighth voicemail. "Listen, I'm really worried. Where are you? I've been running around the city for the past three hours. Please, please, please call back. I love you."

He called Momoi again, wonder if she had any idea where Aomine was, but he hadn't been in contact with her, either.

Then, suddenly, a light bulb lit up in Ren's brain, and he knew _exactly _where Aomine was. Mustering up his last bit of strength, he ran towards Touou, his run turning into a walk, turning into a hobble as he made it to the doors of the third gym. Ren pushed open the doors and fell to the floor, drained. Aomine was there, after all, shooting baskets. He looked over to the sound of metal hitting the floor.

"Ren? What're you doing here?" he asked, throwing the basketball into the hoop before walking up to his boyfriend.

"Fuck, Daiki. Don't you check your phone?" Ren said, still breathing heavily.

Aomine pulled out his cell phone from his pocket. "Oh. Sorry, I didn't realize you called. I wanted to…train, you know?"

"Why'd you just leave without even bothering to tell me? I was only there for you, in case you forgot."

"Because I was a disappointment, okay? I lost, and I didn't want to face you."

"You played amazing," Ren said firmly. "It doesn't matter to me if you won or lost. You played an amazing game, and you had _fun_ playing it. And that's all that matters."

"Ren, thanks. But I really just want to be alone right now," Aomine said, his voice oddly flat.

Ren stood up and brushed himself off. "It's cool. See you," he said, turning his back to Aomine and walking out the doors without a second's glance back.

Ren just walked. His legs were in excruciating pain, but he didn't want to take a bus. He had left his jacket at the gymnasium the match had taken place in, and his hoodie just wasn't enough to combat the frigid night air. But still, he walked towards his house.

"Stupid Daiki…don't you think I want to be with you when you're sad? You've done so much for me, yet you won't even let me do this much for you," he muttered to himself, angry and hurt. He hobbled into his house and just took his legs off and fell into bed, pulling the covers over his head. He was sore and cold, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, all he wanted was Aomine next to him, holding him.

No, he wanted to hold Aomine. Hold him and tell him that everything was alright. Ren wanted to know that Aomine needed him just as much as he needed Aomine. But the more he thought about this, the more he felt pathetic and clingy. His mind kept wandering after that, to worse and worse scenarios about what Aomine actually thought about him, and Ren just wanted to cry when he heard his phone ring.

"Hello?"

"I'm sorry," came Aomine's whispered voice.

Ren forced himself to laugh. "For what? You did nothing wrong."

"No, I lied to you. I feel like shit. I want comfort, I want to be consoled but I was too proud to say so, so I just let you leave. And then I felt like a bigger pile of shit because you're always open with me, and I felt like the worst boyfriend ever, and yeah. Sorry."

Ren blinked, and then he let out a wail. "I'm sorry! I was thinking that you thought I was clingy and pathetic, and that I for _sure_ annoy you and I'm sorry for thinking like you didn't need me at all, and for being a self-centred little bitch."

"Fucking hell, Ren. You sound like a whale," Aomine said, and Ren could almost see him holding his phone at arm's length.

"Where are you?"

"Don't laugh. I'm at your front door."

Ren burst out into laughter. "Daiki, have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"Yeah, when I'm doing you," he teased.

"Suffer in the cold then, I'm not coming to open the door," Ren said, pouting. "And it's not fair to keep bringing up stuff I say during sex!"

"Ren, it's cold," Aomine whined. "I came here to be warmed up by you."

Ren sighed. "Fine, there's a key under the plant on the left. I don't feel like putting my legs back on," he said, hanging up the phone.

He carefully listened to Aomine walk in the house, lock the door behind him, and shed his jacket. He heard his steps coming closer and closer to his room, and then finally saw the door opening.

"Hey," Aomine said. Silently, he pulled off his shirt, dropping it to the ground before crawling into Ren's bed.

Ren wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, pulling him close.

"I don't like losing, Ren. It hurts," Aomine whispered, and Ren could hear the vulnerability in his voice.

"Just kick their asses to Saturn next time," he said after a few moments of silence.

"You still think I'm cool…right?"

He kissed Aomine gently. _There's your answer._

* * *

_**I can't have my babies stay mad at each other for too long. IT HURTS ME. stay tuned for more vulnerable!aomine who talks ~*~feelings~*~. - sarah. P.S. I would greatly appreciate reviews/criticisms, suggestions etc. ^^**  
_


	16. punch

Ren got a call from Kise a few days later. It was early on a Sunday morning, and he was still lazing around in bed, wondering if Aomine was awake yet.

"Hello?"

"Satocchi! Hi!"

"Oh, hi, Kise-san! What's the occasion?"

"Satocchi, you're coming to my game against Fukuda Sogo tomorrow, right, right?" Kise said, sounding very excited.

"Oh, if Kise-san's playing, I'll come watch for sure!" Ren said.

"You're the best! I just called Aominecchi and he told me to shut up, and no way was he going to come watch me," Kise said, pouting. "So I thought I should ask you to come anyways!"

"Don't worry, Kise-san. I'm sure Daiki wants to go see you play, he's just being shy," Ren said, laughing. "I'll make sure he comes along as well!"

"Thanks, Satocchi! Anyways, I have to go practice now, I'll see you tomorrow!"

Ren hung up the phone, and fell back onto his bed. His phone rang again.

"Hello?"

"Hey," came Aomine's voice. "I just wanted to tell you that my parents are in town, and they're making me go with them to a wedding tonight, so I'm gonna be busy. Sorry if you had plans." He sounded genuinely apologetic.

"Nah, I was planning on spending today lying on my bed anyways," Ren said. "You will be free tomorrow night, right? For Kise-san's game?"

"Yeah, duh. Don't tell him I'm coming though. I'll see you tomorrow night, then?"

"Have fun at the wedding," Ren said, smiling.

"Not likely." Aomine laughed. "Bye. Love you." He hung up the phone.

"Love you, too," Ren whispered, after putting his phone back on the bedside table.

Since he was pretty much awake now, he decided to get out of bed and just get through the day.

After taking a shower, Ren draped a towel around his bare shoulders to absorb the water from his wet hair as it dried. After cooking and eating breakfast, he looked at the clock and realized it wasn't even ten yet. Groaning softly, he contemplated crawling back into bed and sleeping for the rest of the day, but decided that he could have fun by himself, even without Aomine.

Then he realized that his only other friends were Kise, Kuroko and Kagami. And all three of them were still busy with basketball practice. He pouted. "Maybe I should just go play basketball, too…?" Suddenly, an idea came to him and his face lit up as he pulled out his cell phone.

* * *

"Ren-chan! Hi!" called Momoi, as she ran towards him.

"Thanks for meeting up with me, Momoi-san," Ren said, grinning.

"Thank _you_! How did you know I wanted to go shopping? Seriously, you're such a better friend than Dai-chan. He's never asked me to go out with him before." Momoi pouted when she mentioned Aomine. "So, any reason you asked me?"

"Not particularly," he said honestly. "I was just thinking about how I hadn't seen Momoi-san in a long time."

"Aww, Ren-chan, you're so nice!" she said, taking his arm. "Don't worry, I won't even let you think about Dai-chan today."

"But I wasn't…" Ren protested, but Momoi cut him off.

"It's okay, I understand! He doesn't want to be at that wedding either," Momoi said. "He wants to spend every waking moment with you, he said so. Although he'd kill me if he knew I told you that."

Ren laughed, putting a finger to his lips.

The two spent almost the entire day at the mall. First, Momoi was trying on outfits, and Ren rating each outfit from one to ten, although she only ended up buying one skirt. Then because Momoi was so insistent that Ren needed to buy new clothes, Ren spent almost three hours trying on outfit after outfit, and Momoi was rating them, then. He ended up buying a whole outfit. Because it was nice and not because Momoi said that Dai-chan might weep with happiness if he saw Ren in that outfit, of course.

Ren also treated Momoi to dinner, and walked her home.

"Wow, now I know why Dai-chan likes you so much," Momoi beamed once they got to her house. "You're a perfect gentleman, Ren-chan. Unlike him." She wrinkled her nose.

Ren laughed. "We should really hang out again, Momoi-chan," he said, as earlier in the day, Momoi had told him that _san_ was much too stuffy sounding.

"See you tomorrow at Ki-chan's game!"

* * *

The following night, Kaijou beat Fukuda Sogo. Aomine and Ren were leaving, quietly talking about if Kise was going to be okay after the injuries he sustained, when Ren told Aomine to go on ahead because he had to go to the bathroom.

When Ren caught up with Aomine, he noticed that his boyfriend looked more disgruntled than usual.

"Daiki, what's wrong?" he asked, walking up to Aomine.

"Nothing. Let's go," he said, draping an arm around Ren's shoulders.

"Daiki, you live in the completely opposite direction from here. It's not that late, I'll go home alone," Ren said, shrugging off Aomine's arm.

Aomine frowned. "You sure?"

"Yeah," Ren said, nodding. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, then!"

"Mm…yeah, I guess," Aomine said, leaning in to kiss Ren before they parted ways.

Ren lived only about a twenty minute walk from where the game had taken place, but it was nice out, and he was taking his sweet time walking, taking a detour through a park.

"Huh, I had no idea Daiki was a fag," came a sneer from behind Ren. He immediately turned around to see one of the players from Fukuda Sogo, the one that had hurt Kise so badly. He was sporting a black eye he didn't have before.

"Oh, you're…"

"Haizaki Shogo, punk," Haizaki said, sauntering towards Ren. "See this thing? Your _boyfriend_ gave it to me." He pointed to his left eye.

Ren bowed slightly. "Um, I'm sorry for what Daiki did. He shouldn't have."

Haizaki laughed; a sound that was harsh and cold. "God, I never could have imagined Daiki was queer. I mean he liked boobs just as much as I did. Although I suppose you do look a lot like a chick." He touched Ren's hair, causing him to flinch. "Yeah, that's probably why he likes you. Because you look like a flat chick."

"I'm sorry, Haizaki-san, but I'm really in sort of a hurry," Ren said carefully, not wanting to anger the taller boy.

"Oh, sorry for taking your time," he said, smiling for a moment before his face contorted with rage. "Not." He threw a punch at Ren's face knocking him down to the ground in one go. "That fucking fag thinks he can just punch me and I'll just shut up and walk away. Not fucking likely." He kicked Ren's stomach before bending down next to him. "Does that hurt, pretty boy?"

Ren was shivering in fear. "Please…"

Haizaki just stood up and kicked Ren's leg, surprised when his foot hit metal.

"Oh, what do we have here?" he said, rolling up the legs of Ren's sweatpants. "Aomine's dating a _crippled_ fag? Well, then. Let's have some more fun then, huh?" Haizaki yanked off one of Ren's prostheses and tossed it as far as he could.

"Please, Haizaki-san. I need that," Ren mumbled.

"Shut the fuck up," he snarled, bringing his foot down to Ren's face, eliciting a soft cry from the younger boy. His nose didn't break, but it was bleeding now. "Not so pretty anymore now, are you? Fucking pathetic." He gave Ren one more swift kick, this time to the groin. "That'll teach Daiki to mess with me. Fucking queer thinks he can just punch me and get away with it…" He spat onto Ren and walked away.

As soon as he lost sight of Haizaki, Ren pulled out his cell phone and dialed Aomine's number.

"Hey, you get home alright?" Aomine asked.

"D-Daiki…you know the park near my house? Can you meet me there?"

"Now? Is everything okay, Ren?" Aomine's voice was worried now.

"I'm kind of in a…situation. I'm sorry Daiki, I know you live far," Ren whispered.

"I'm hanging up now. Call me again if you need to talk to me. I'll be there as fast as I can, promise."

Ren's bottom lip trembled, as he willed himself not to cry.

* * *

_**Wow, I had such a hard time writing Haizaki for some reason. :x Hopefully I got him okay. Speaking of Haizaki, I'm kind of working on a HaiKi oneshot, where Haizaki really isn't as much of a dick as everyone (me included) writes him as. I'm quite excited about how it's turning out actually. But yeah, the next few chapters are probably gonna be a horrible angsty sort of mess. - sarah**_


	17. broken things

Aomine was running faster than he had ever run before, the worst scenarios racing through his mind.

"Ren!" he called out, once he was in the park. In the darkness, he could barely see anything.

"Daiki, here," came a soft voice, from only a few feet away. "First, could you get my leg? It's right there."

"Your… What's your leg doing here?" he said, picking it up and running towards his boyfriend, who was sitting while leaning against a tree. He crouched down next to him. "Ren, look at me."

Ren smiled weakly and turned his face towards Ren. "I'm a bit of a mess," he whispered. Ren's cheek was swollen, his left eye completely blackened, and blood crusted around his nose.

Aomine took Ren's face into his hands. "Who the fuck did this to you?" he whispered fiercely, holding him close. "I'll kill them."

"I…don't know," Ren lied, quietly putting his leg back on. "Sorry for making you rush here, Daiki, but could you help me home? My body really hurts."

"You don't have to apologize, stupid," Aomine said gently, hoisting Ren up in his arms. "Let's get you home."

"I can walk…" he protested quietly. "Don't burden yourself."

Aomine just held Ren tighter. "I would run to the ends of the Earth for you, and then carry you all the way back, and it still wouldn't make you a burden."

Ren's bottom lip trembled but he willed himself not to cry. "I love you."

"Yeah, me too."

Aomine carefully set Ren down on his bed once they were in his house.

"Just stay there, I'll go get some antiseptic and bandages," Aomine said, going towards Ren's bathroom.

"Daiki, I can do the rest. You can go home," Ren protested, sitting up.

"If I were in your position, would you just leave me alone?" Aomine asked.

"I…no. Sorry," Ren said softly.

Aomine carefully cleaned the blood off of Ren's face and applied ointment to the wounds, before placing bandages where they were necessary. He patted his cheek when he was done.

"There you go, good as new!" he said, satisfied with his work.

Ren forced himself to laugh. "Yup, can't even tell that I was just beaten up!" he joked.

Aomine's eyes narrowed, as if he had just remembered why Ren was in this state. "Who was it?"

"No one I know," Ren said, a little too quickly. He bit his lip and looked away from Aomine.

"It was Haizaki, wasn't it?" Aomine growled, rage contorting his face.

"Daiki, don't. If you go hurt him, he'll just hurt you back, and I don't want that. Please, I can't bear to see you in pain. He beat me up, it's okay. He won't do it again. But if you go after him, he'll try to hurt you more," Ren said, grabbing onto Aomine's arm. "So promise me, okay?"

Aomine sighed, burying his face in his boyfriend's neck. "Alright. If he lays another finger on you, though, he's dead."

Ren smiled, assuring Aomine that no such thing would happen.

The next day however, on his way to school, Ren encountered Haizaki again. He saw him coming towards him from the opposite direction, and he lowered his gaze, hoping he would be noticed. For a moment, it seemed as if his tactic worked, however Haizaki grabbed him only a second later, and pulled him into an adjacent, empty, alley.

"Don't think I'm done with you just yet, pretty boy," Haizaki snarled. "I'll stay away from your face, but that doesn't mean I'll let you leave unscathed. He kicked Ren's stomach, causing the boy to be thrown back against the wall. "See you tomorrow, Ren-_chan_."

Ren just brushed off his uniform and stood up, he could almost feel the bruises forming on his skin underneath.

This went on for a week. No matter what route to school Ren picked, Haizaki would show up and kick him a couple of times before going on his merry way. However, Ren managed to hide this from Aomine.

Aomine knew something was wrong, though. Ren wouldn't let him sleep over and wouldn't let him pick him up from school in the morning. And he seemed oddly tired at all times.

One day, curiosity just got the better of Aomine, and while his tired boyfriend slept in the classroom during lunch, he carefully lifted up the back of his shirt, his eyebrows knitting together in fury when he saw the bruises blossomed across Ren's pale skin. Some of them were old, but others were definitely only a day or two old.

He balled his fists and stormed out of the classroom, not caring if he skipped the rest of the school day. He _had_ to deal with Haizaki, _now_.

Taking the bus to Fukuda Sogo, he threatened a frightened freshman into telling him where Haizaki was. And lucky for him, the burly basketball player really wasn't that hard to find.

"Haizaki," Aomine said, approaching the boy.

"Oh, Daiki? To what do I owe this pleasure?" he said, grinning.

"What the hell did Ren ever do to you?" Aomine asked, clenching his teeth. He was trying his best to stay calm.

"Oh, the little fag told you? Well then, I made it very clear to him that if he opened his fucking mouth and told you, I'd smash you to a pulp."

"I'm not here to fight, Haizaki. Just beat me up, and leave Ren alone, okay? I'll do whatever. Just don't hurt him."

Haizaki snorted. "I_ never_ thought I'd see the day when you turned into a lovestruck puppy, Daiki. I can't believe it. But okay. I won't hurt your little fag on one condition," he said, holding up his index finger in front of Aomine's face. "Break up with him."

"No," Aomine said flatly. "I can't do that."

"Then I'll just slowly kill him," Haizaki said, the grin leaving his face. "Break up with him, Daiki."

"If you lay a finger on him after I break up with him, I'm going to ruin your life," Aomine said, shaking slightly. "Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Leave me alone now." Haizaki, moved past the crowds of Tokyo, going on his way.

Aomine pulled out his phone and texted Ren, trembling with anger, sadness and confusion. _Meet me at the third gym after school. – Daiki_

* * *

"Where'd you run off to?" Ren pouted, running towards Aomine when he arrived at the gym. "I told you to stop skipping class."

Ren tried to pull Aomine down to give him a kiss, but his advances were brushed off by the taller boy.

"Stop. I asked you to come here because I want to break up."

* * *

_**Sorry for the late update, I had three back to back exams, and I'm finally done! Also, sorry for the short chapter, I had so much trouble writing it, but I promise the next one will be longer. ;^; Thank you all for your continued support! - sarah**_


	18. unlikely friends

Ren laughed weakly. "I don't like jokes like that, Daiki. You know that."

"I'm not joking," Aomine replied.

The grin fell off of Ren's face. "Can I at least know why?" he asked softly, in a voice that just broke Aomine's heart. "I thought things were going well."

_I'm sorry for lying Ren. But it'll be easier for the both of us if you just hate me. _"Because I'm not a fucking queer, that's why. You were different, it was something fresh. It was fun, I suppose. But I like chicks, okay?" Aomine said, his voice rising.

"So, our whole relationship was a game to you?" Ren asked, his voice tinged with anger.

Aomine was trembling slightly now. "Not a game, more like…a fling."

"And you thought it was alright to just completely abuse my feelings like that?" Ren shouted, unable to stay calm. "You _knew_ how serious I was about you Daiki. You were my first kiss. I let you take my _virginity_. That's how much I love and trust you."

"I'm sorry, I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have played with your feelings." Aomine was clenching his teeth, willing himself to keep the lie going for just a little bit longer.

"Fine then. Let's break up, if that's what you really want," Ren said, shaking slightly. "But I know you're lying, Daiki. I know that's not the reason you're breaking up with me. I know you were serious about our relationship. But I won't pry. I'm just hurt that you feel like you have to lie to me." Ren turned around and walked out of the gym, his fists clenched.

Aomine sank down onto the floor a few minutes later, and for the first time since he was ten years old, he cried, silent sobs shaking through his entire body. "God fucking dammit, Ren. It's your fault for not telling me Haizaki was hurting you. I can't even go to the police; they aren't going to imprison him, and he'll just come back and hurt you more," Aomine muttered to himself, roughly brushing away his tears. "No matter what I did…you'd just end up getting hurt in the end.

* * *

"So pretty boy, heard your boyfriend dumped you," Haizaki leered, appearing behind Ren as he walked to school the next morning.

"Mm."

"Sucks, doesn't it? After all the thrashing you took from me, it still amounted to nothing," he said, still grinning.

"Sorry, Haizaki-san, I'm not in the mood to talk right now," Ren said shortly, increasing his pace.

"Aww, are you upset. Do you need someone to warm your bed tonight, because I can oblige," Haizaki said, clapping a hand on Ren's shoulder.

Ren pushed Haizaki's hand off of his shoulder. "Haizaki-san, please. I don't know what you've got against Daiki, but I do know that I've done nothing to you. I know you're not a bad guy, really. So, since Daiki doesn't care what happens to me now, I don't think bothering me is something you want to do."

"Please, I don't need Daiki as a reason to beat the shit out of you," Haizaki scoffed.

"Like I said. I know you're not a bad guy. Just a slightly violent one," Ren said, smiling gently at Haizaki before walking away.

Haizaki just stood still where Ren had left him. "Huh. I beat him up and he still doesn't think I'm a bad guy?" he murmured, scratching his head as he began walking in the opposite direction. And suddenly, guilt spread through to every corner of Haizaki's body, a sensation he hadn't felt in what seemed like forever. "Whatever. What does a faggot like him know anyways?"

This carried on for two weeks. Haizaki would show up near Ren when he was walking to school, and verbally harass him for a few minutes before slinking away again. And each time Ren would try to talk him out of bothering him like this every day.

At school, Ren avoided Aomine, and Aomine avoided Ren. At first, Aomine would glance at Ren when he thought the other wasn't looking, but after Ren caught him a few times, he stopped that as well.

Ren still went to the third gym to practice, without Aomine however.

Aomine knew though, and he silently watched his ex-boyfriend practice every day. He also watched the few times that Ren fell to the floor crying and muttering his name. The sound wrapped around his heart and destroyed it each time, yet he would just walk away, knowing he didn't have the right to go and console the boy.

Aomine also stopped spending time with Kise, Kagami and Kuroko; the three would constantly pressure him about why he broke up with Ren, and he really couldn't handle that. Instead, he devoted his time to practicing with the Touou team, much to their astonishment.

Meanwhile, an odd sort of friendship formed between Haizaki and Ren, when the former awkwardly apologized for hurting Ren to get back at Aomine.

Ren accepted the apology, stating that Haizaki should go apologize to Aomine as well, and Haizaki said that he would, eventually.

Haizaki's odd stalking of Ren in the mornings became somewhat planned, as the two would meet up and walk halfway to Touou before Haizaki would turn around to go back to Fukuda Sogo.

It would mostly be Haizaki talking to Ren about this and that, while Ren nodded and listened, occasionally adding a point into Haizaki's seemingly endless monologues, but Ren couldn't deny that the presence of the taller, intimidating boy was someone…comforting. Even if he was prone to be violent, he was mostly just misunderstood, and Ren got that he wasn't innately _evil_ like everyone assumed he was.

The weeks slowly slipped by, however, and with each passing day the gaping hole inside Ren grew, and not being the heartless asshole everyone thought he was, Haizaki noticed how his new friend's smile would grow faker, and his voice ever so slightly duller as the days passed. And the guilt within him grew.

Aomine had stopped channeling his frustrations into basketball, and had mostly become apathetic to everything around him; he started skipping practice and school again.

One weekend morning, after a particularly nostalgic dream, he woke up and dialed Ren's number, realizing only what he had done after the boy picked up the phone.

"Hello?" came Ren's sleepy voice from the other end.

"Uhhhh…hey," Aomine stammered, not knowing what to do. He had also forgotten that Ren didn't have caller ID.

"Daiki," Ren said softly.

"Um…wanna go shoot some hoops?" Aomine blurted out.

Ren was silent for a few moments before replying. "Yeah. I'd like that."

"I'll be there in half an hour then," he said quickly, hanging up.

Ren just stared at his phone, not knowing what had happened. _Does he…want to get back together? Nah, can't be… _He got ready quickly, and was out of the doors in twenty minutes, going to the street courts near his house. A few minutes later, Aomine also arrived.

"You didn't bring your basketball," Ren pointed out.

"Oh, I didn't? Well fuck." Aomine laughed weakly. "Sorry…"

"Guessing you didn't really want to shoot hoops then?" Ren asked, raising an eyebrow.

Aomine had to force himself to look away from his ex-boyfriend. It was a particularly hot autumn day, and Ren was wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts to match. And Aomine's heart just ached being this close to him.

"Yeah, truthfully…I called you by habit this morning. I missed your voice," Aomine admitted, looking at the ground.

"Hey Daiki. I just had one question for you. Remember how I told you I tried to kill myself once, and you forbade me from ever having such thoughts again," Ren said, looking at Aomine with hard thoughts. "And I told you that the only way that would happen was if you broke up with me. You forgot that, huh?"

Aomine looked at Ren with wide eyes, and grabbed him by his shoulders. "No. Don't tell me you tried to hurt yourself. Please. I forgot, I really did, Ren. Please don't hurt yourself," he said, voice almost pleading.

Ren shook Aomine's hands away. "What do you care what I do now? It was just a _fling_, right? And I didn't try to kill myself. It was mostly a joke that I would. I'm not worth so little that I'd end my life because one douche thinks it's okay to toy with me," Ren snapped, turning around to walk away.

"You…do you have someone else?" Aomine said, trembling.

"What if I do?" Ren said defensively, running off before Aomine could see him cry.

"Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck," Aomine groaned, punching the fence.

* * *

_**Before anyone yells at me for making Haizaki OOC, I actually really like him, and do think that he is a good guy underneath it all, and is simply just misunderstood. D: And so I didn't want to make him an incorrigible villain, because I do like him, after all.  
Also to my lovely reader bob: I hope this chapter answers some of your questions! I can't reply to your reviews because you don't have an account! : - sarah**_


	19. forever

Aomine ran after Ren. "Tell me who it is," he demanded, once he caught up to the boy.

"None of your business," Ren shot back, roughly rubbing at his eyes.

"It _is_ my business, if you must know."

"No, I really don't see how it is. If I remember correctly, _you_ broke up with _me_. So whatever I do now is none of your concern," Ren said.

"But…" Aomine looked at Ren, almost pleadingly. "Come on, Ren."

"Daiki, _please_ leave me alone. It hurts me just to be around you okay?"

Aomine bit his lip. "Whatever," he said, walking away. "Do whatever the fuck you like."

* * *

Aomine skipped school the next day, and the day after that, preferring to mope in his room to deal with the idea that Ren had gotten over him so easily.

Momoi kept bugging Aomine to quit being a baby and come back to school, but he refused, telling her that he would once she found out who Ren was dating now. And so, Momoi put Sakurai on the case, telling him to trail Ren on his way to and from school, to see what the boy was up to.

Aomine's phone rang early on his third day of skipping school, and woke up him up.

"What?" he barked into the phone.

"Sorry, Aomine-san, sorry!" came a distressed voice from the other side.

"Oh, Ryou. What's up?" he said, his voice not as harsh as earlier.

"I was trailing Sato-san because Momoi-san asked me to…and…"

"And what?" Aomine said, bolting up from his bed. "And?"

"Sorry! Sorry, he was walking to school with someone…he was tall, muscular, dark hair…I think I might have seen him during the Winter Cup…"

"Fuck!" Aomine swore loudly, hanging up the phone amidst a chorus of _Sorry!_s from Sakurai. "Fuck. He wasn't lying then." He started racking his brain for all the tall, dark haired basketball players he knew. "Kagami? Has to be Kagami. He's known Kagami from earlier…but walking him to school? Isn't Seirin fucking far from here?" Aomine groaned, falling back onto his bed

He had almost fallen asleep again, when his phone rang for a second time. He checked the caller ID, and saw that it was an unknown number. "Hello?"

"Daiki?" came a deep voice, unmistakably Haizaki's. "It's Haizaki."

"I know. The fuck do you want?" Aomine snarled.

"Shut the fuck up. I need to talk to you. Meet me at Maji Burger in like half an hour," he said, hanging up on Aomine.

"Who the fuck does that fucker think he is," Aomine growled, getting out of bed to get ready regardless.

He was at Maji Burger a full 45 minutes later, but knowing Haizaki, he arrived 20 minutes after Aomine did, claiming that he got stuck in traffic, even though Aomine knew he had walked.

"So what do you want? Make it snappy," Aomine said, lounging in his chair.

Haizaki didn't even bother sitting down. "Your boyfriend. I don't give a fuck anymore. Go get back together with him if you want."

Aomine stood up. "The fuck are you playing at now?" he said, glaring at the taller boy.

"Nothing, really. Just go do whatever the fuck you want. I don't care. I won't touch him," he said, stepping away from Aomine. "Just…don't tell him I forced you guys to break up, okay? Actually, whatever. Tell him if you want. I'm done."

"Why? This is weird, even for you," Aomine said, raising an eyebrow.

"He's…a good kid," he said, turning around and walking out of the restaurant, leaving Aomine to process what had just happened.

"How does… Did Ren… Are they friends?" Aomine muttered to himself as he walked down the street. "Was he with Haizaki this morning then? Why would he hang out with someone who beat him up though? Oh well…I supposed he _is_ unnecessarily nice…Fuck, I need to go talk to him right now."

He started running towards Ren's house, before realizing that Ren was in school. He considered turning back, but realized he wasn't wearing his uniform. So he ran to Ren's house anyways, and sat down on the front steps to wait for him.

He waited and waited, and eventually fell asleep under the warm afternoon sun. And he was woken up from his nap by Ren's voice.

"Daiki, what are you doing here?" came an exasperated sigh.

"Huh?" Aomine was still a little groggy, not realizing what was happening. "Oh, you're here. Good." Aomine stood up and kissed Ren on his mouth. "I love you."

Ren blinked once Aomine pulled away. "What are you playing at now?" he demanded, a blush creeping up his cheeks.

"Can we go inside? I'll explain everything, really. I promise. I was a dick, but just let me explain, okay?" Aomine said, taking the keys from Ren's hand and opening the door.

"This had better be good, Daiki," Ren said, sitting on the couch opposite from Aomine.

"Okay. I lied about everything. You weren't a fling, I don't really care for chicks, I will only love you forever, and I'm super sorry about hurting your feelings but I didn't mean a word of what I said that day," Aomine blurted out, all in one breath. "Yeah."

"Wait, what? _Why_ did you break up with me then, if none of that was true? Is it because you didn't want to be seen as gay?" Ren said, trying to make sense of what Aomine just said.

"I don't give a fuck about what I'm seen as. Gay, straight, bi, whatever."

"Then _why_?"

Aomine looked uncomfortable. "To protect you, okay? I didn't want you to get hurt anymore. I can't say anything else, but you're smart. You'll figure it out. And I get it if you don't want to forgive me or have anything to do with me. I deserve it. Just…know that I love you, and I've never stopped loving you, okay?"

Even before he finished talking, Ren had practically _pounced_ on him and kissed him hungrily. "Don't ever do that again, you hear? I'm forgiving you now, but I won't ever again," he whispered between kisses.

Aomine curled his arms around Ren's waist. "Gotcha. Never again. I need you in my life, and I've realized that now. I'm never taking you for granted again." He made room for Ren next to him. "Now, I've got questions for you, too. And you'd better have answers for them.

Ren settled next to his boyfriend, looking at him curiously. "Sure."

"Why didn't you tell me Haizaki hurt you after the first time?"

"I…didn't want to worry you, or go hurt Haizaki-san yourself. Because you'd get hurt too then," he mumbled.

"And it was okay to let yourself get hurt?"

"Yeah. I don't want to see you get hurt. Next question please."

"Why did you start hanging out with Haizaki even after all he did to you?" Aomine demanded.

"Haizaki-san isn't a bad person, just misunderstood," Ren said honestly, looking at Aomine. "He's actually not a bad guy, and I realized that."

"You're really something you know?" he said, ruffling Ren's hair. "You're the only person I know that'd become friends with their attacker. You have like…severe Stockholm syndrome or something."

"He apologized," Ren said defensively.

"_Still_! Well, I suppose that's one of the reasons I love you, I guess. So we're cool, right?"

"More than cool," Ren affirmed.

"Okay, because I'm never letting you go, ever again," Aomine said, burying his face in Ren's neck. "Never."

"Even if you wanted to, I wouldn't let you. You're stuck with me forever."

* * *

_**Alright so...this is the final stretch guys! I've decided that the next chapter is gonna be the last, so it'll end at a nice even 20 chapters. And even though I'd love to write AoRen forever, I feel like I don't really want to drag it on. So I'm gonna thank you guys once again for being such amazing readers, and for all the lovely and kind reviews. I sincerely think you guys are amazing. - sarah**_


	20. best thing

Ten years later, Ren was living in New York City, working as a rehabilitation therapist for amputees with prosthetics. He enjoyed his work immensely, as he knew very well what every single one of his patients was going through, but some days at work were still harder than others.

Like the current day. He was working the closing shift and had to deal with a particularly troublesome young man before closing up the clinic.

Ren had gotten his degree in Kinesiology from Keio University, before heading to the USA to get his Masters. He had ended up settling there, as one of his professors had recommended him to a prestigious clinic in the city, where he had been working ever since.

He checked his phone one last time before descending the stairs to the subway station, and pouted at the lack of any text messages. "Jeez, I know you're busy…but still," he muttered.

He walked into a posh looking building and presented his ID to the receptionist at the front desk before taking the elevator up to the 19th floor.

"I'm home," he said quietly, as he opened the door to the dark apartment. It was obvious from the silence that no one was home. _Go figure._

Ren sighed softly. He wasn't one to hold grudges, but really, there were some things that people really shouldn't forget. He took a shower and pulled out a container of leftover noodles from the fridge.

After finishing his meal, he checked his phone for text messages, but again, there was nothing. However, he refused to call again, as he had already done so around fifteen times, and sent countless text messages. _It's not my problem anymore._

Ren had just washed the now empty container of noodles, and had settled down on the couch to watch some TV, when he heard someone fumbling at the door before he saw it fly open.

"I'm home!" came a deep voice, and the owner of the voice shut the door and practically ran towards Ren, sitting next to him on the couch. "Happy Anniversary," he said quietly, kissing Ren's cheek.

Ren turned to glare at the other man. "Where were you? I've been worried sick all day, calling and texting and whatever. You could at least reply once!"

"I didn't want you to beat me to it," he said sheepishly. "I wanted to be the first to say it. And I was gonna surprise you, but all of that fucked up and then I had to leave the house and—" He was cut off by Ren kissing his lips.

"Happy Anniversary, Daiki," he said, smiling. "But next time, answer my phone calls, okay?"

"Gotcha," Aomine said, grinning. "Now, for your surprise. You see, I was gonna cook an amazing meal, but I got too into the basketball game on TV and it burned. So I got you this instead. I know it's not much, but all of the good restaurants were booked and stuff."

Aomine walked out of the door to pick up the bags he had left out there to avoid spoiling the surprise.

"Number one, pizza! Just the way you like it, too," he said, placing a Pizza Hut box on the table. "Number two, chocolate. Because it's cheesy and I know just how much you love my cheese." He grinned while procuring the third gift. "Roses for even more cheese," he said, placing them on Ren's lap. "And finally, a basketball signed by that super rookie starter on the New York Knicks team that everyone just loves…what was his name?"

Ren laughed, talking the basketball. "Umm…it was Aomine Daiki, wasn't it? The rookie NBA player that's got everyone in an uproar?" he asked, teasing.

"You betcha! Better appreciate it, it was _such_ a hassle getting this. He's such a diva," Aomine said, laughing.

"Damn, Daiki. Everything's so wonderful. I couldn't ask for a better anniversary present, really," Ren said, beaming up at Aomine. "It almost makes up for you being a complete ass all day. Almost."

"Almost, huh?" Aomine said, raising an eyebrow. "No way, you perv. You have to wait till later tonight for _that_."

"Jeez," Ren said, pouting. "Anyways, let me get you your present." He disappeared into their room for a brief moment, and came back with a small box which he thrust at Aomine.

"Before I open this…I have just one last present. I have some time off next month, so you'll have to take a couple of weeks off, too," he said, taking a piece of paper out of his back pocket and handing it to Ren.

Ren scanned the paper quickly, his eyes going wide. "Daiki…this…"

"It was nothing," he said, waving his hand. "I remember you said that you wanted to see France, right?"

"Still, you remembered! And you always manage to outshine all of my presents," he grumbled. "Open it, then."

"Wow. This looks expensive…" Aomine said, pulling out a white-gold watch. He turned it over in his hands to see an engraving on the back of it. "Oh? _Here's to the first year of forever. – Ren. _Jeez. You got it engraved and everything. This must've cost a fortune." Aomine pulled Ren in for a tight hug. "I'll wear it everywhere. Except when I'm playing basketball, because then it'll break."

"You break it and I'll break you," Ren said pleasantly.

"Remember when you used to be all nice and kind? Seems I totally rubbed off on you," Aomine said, laughing.

"I only threaten you, though. Maybe Ryouta. And Taiga. Tetsuya still intimidates me too much," he said, shuddering. "Oh and Shougo. Speaking of Shougo, he's visiting in two months! I told him he could stay with us for the few days he's gonna be in the city."

"_Shougo_? Man, you had one severe case of Stockholm syndrome. The guy beat you up and you practically became best friends with him," Aomine said, clicking his tongue.

"Shougo's a great person, okay? You guys are all just so unfair to him. Be civil when he visits," Ren said, hitting Aomine's shoulder.

"Okay, okay. I can't stand him, but I'll play nice. Bastard's been even more jealous of me since I joined the NBA…"

"He doesn't even play basketball anymore," Ren snorted.

"Whatever. Let's stop talking about him. Today's _our_ day," Aomine murmured, pushing Ren back onto the couch. "A year, huh."

"It feels like just yesterday that we started going out," Ren said, laughing softly. "And here we are, ten years dating, and one year of marriage."

"When we went to different universities, Satsuki and the others were _so _sure we'd break up, you know?" Aomine said, rolling his eyes.

Ren's eyes widened. "Seriously? It wasn't even that bad though. We saw each other practically every other day. And you kind of lived in my flat for the last year and a half of university," Ren said, teasing.

"Hey! It was just more convenient. I mean, you lived closer to my university than I did," Aomine said defensively, burying his face in Ren's hair.

"The worst was the two years I lived in New York before you got your contract here. It was horrid, but at least I was kept busy by school," he said brightly. "And then everything's just been going uphill from there. You know, we were so comfortable in our life that I thought you didn't even want to get married. In fact, I was planning on proposing to _you_ if you didn't hurry it up."

"Serious? I'd have killed you if you did, you know?" Aomine grumbled. "And of course I'd want to get married. Where did you get that idea?"

"I dunno. You are famous after all. Speaking of your fame…so there was this kid that came in for his first rehab session today. He's probably like…eighteen or something. Guess whose jersey he was wearing?" Ren asked, grinning.

"Mine? Seriously?" Aomine asked, bouncing up and down on the couch like an excited kid. "That's so _cool_!"

"Yeah, so I asked him if he was a Knicks fan, and I told him I was too, and he snorted and said I probably didn't even know the first thing about basketball, and I was just pretending to be young and hip like all doctors are to try and get the patients to open up. Can you believe him? Like, I understand that it's hard for teenagers when they have to get used to prosthetic limbs, but this kid just takes the cake. He has a below the knee amputation on his left leg, and he's complaining like his life has ended," Ren said, rolling his eyes.

"Should I come in and teach him a lesson?" Aomine asked, cracking his knuckles.

Ren laughed. "He'd probably faint if he saw you. Anyways, so then he started complaining about how I couldn't possibly understand that his life was completely over now that he was a cripple, so I rolled up my jeans and showed him my legs. You should've seen the look on his face. He had _no_ idea," Ren said. "That shut him up for a bit, but then he started making assumptions about _my_ life. Like, he was all, you're probably all alone, never been in love, blah blah blah. And you know what I said? I told him I was married, thank you very much. To the guy whose name is on the back of the shirt you're wearing."

Aomine grinned. "Boy, this story is getting amazing now," he said, grabbing on to Ren's arm. "And then?"

"His jaw practically dropped to the floor. And obviously, the cheeky little bastard demanded _proof_, so I showed him a few pictures of you and us on my phone. I swear he was about to cry after that. And he asked me how a star athlete like Aomine Daiki could be married to a geeky cripple like Sato Ren. Then I realized how lost this guy must seem, because that's what I was like, before I met you, you know?

"So I told him that it didn't matter how many legs or arms you had, because when you found the right person, that person would look past all of that, straight into your heart. And then, they would never let you go. Then, he started crying and apologized for being such a little bitch," Ren said, shrugging. "I had to console him, and make him stop crying, and then explain to his mother _why_ he was crying before I closed up and left."

"Christ, Ren. Who knew you were so damn inspirational?" Aomine chuckled. "Well I knew, of course. You changed me, after all."

"You _think_ I changed you," Ren corrected. "You were never a douche, Daiki. You just thought you were. And I just told you that you weren't." He looked at Aomine cheerfully, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Aomine said, pushing Ren down on the couch. "Point is that you're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"And _you're_ the best thing that's ever happened to _me_," he said, smiling.

Aomine kissed Ren slowly, slipping his hands under his husband's shirt. "Actually…let's have a quick go before we have dinner. I'm hungrier for you anyways."

Ren just laughed, kissing Aomine back in affirmation.

**fin**

* * *

**_And that's a wrap! First, I'd like to apologize about how long this chapter took; I went on vacation for a few days and had no time to write. Second, I'd like to thank everyone who read and reviewed. You guys are amazing; thank you so, so, so much! I have so many more ideas for kurobasu fics and I can't wait to get a start on them now. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter of his own light! - sarah_  
**


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